


Beg

by Cyriusli



Series: Transferred Works from FF [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Established Relationship, M/M, Sexual Assault, Spirit Animals, Spiritual, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 21:51:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 56,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6167971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyriusli/pseuds/Cyriusli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zoro's new techniques seem to be a bit more than he bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Original post date: August 2013
> 
> Okay, whoa, so... This. Fucking. Fic. This thing was probably one of the very first things I ever wrote for One Piece and I tell you what...yeah, it's brutal. And I hate it! I absolutely hate this damned story. It's a first person from Sanji's PoV and let me tell you a thing...you need to read this at your own discretion. The warnings are there for very good reason.
> 
> Yes, there is some abuse. Yes, there is some sexual abuse. Yes, there is even an attempted rape.
> 
> But throughout it all, Sanji keeps a somewhat level head. He doesn't blame Zoro (now before you go yelling at me about Sanji in the victim mode of an abusive relationship, just let me finish) because he knows Zoro would never act like that. Sanji knows something is wrong with Zoro and as much as this story focuses on what Sanji has to suffer though, it's also about him and the rest of the crew coming together to save Zoro from, well, basically, himself.
> 
> Anyway, just be warned of the brutality of it. This is old, very old, and not nearly as strong of a writing piece as it could be. I do have plans to one day come back to this story. You can also see some growth writing wise as I go through this fic.

“Shit cook!”

“Crap swordsman!”

It was always like this. Insults would fly first then feet and swords. Most days the damned moss-head would use only one sword, but today he had two. This made things even more difficult.

“Only thing you're good at is taking up space Marimo.”

“Oh yeah? Well at least I look good while doing it Curly-brow!”

“What'd you say?!”

“You heard me.”

His voice was calm, monotone, despite the slashing swords. His movements were fluid, graceful even, if that was possible for him. His eyes tracked every movement, his body tensed to move at a seconds notice.

Landing square, one leg came up quickly, knee hitting my chest before kicking forward. My heel hit the idiot's swords, crossed in a defensive “X” in front of him. A growl passed my lips as he smiled.

“You're slow today.”

“Shaddup!” I dropped to my side, hand hitting the deck for support as I kicked out with my other leg. I was hoping to catch him off guard.

It didn’t work. He jumped over my leg and right onto my back, pinning my legs and twisting my arm back. Pain shot into my shoulder. “Ow ow ow! Not my arm!” Why was he being so rough today? Something wasn’t right. Eyes closed, I desperately tried to think of a way I could get him off me.

His weight shifted and the pressure on my arm grew. Wincing, I grit my teeth against the pain. If he broke my arm, that would be it. I would be useless to Luffy. The Pirate King would have no use for a lame cook.

My eyes flew open, despite the pain, at the laugh. It was down right evil. I had heard it before...right before he sliced someone, right before he achieved victory.

“That’s right Sanji,” he said. That cold monotone voice was downright sinister. “Beg.” He was right against my ear, I could feel his breath as he spoke. “Beg me to let you go.” He laughed again.

“Go to hell Zoro.” I growled, trying to fight the pain worsening in my shoulder.

“Your call,” the fucking shithead turned my wrist a bit more. Something popped in my wrist and the pain that shot through my shoulder brought tears to my eyes.

“Alright, alright,” I panted. “Just don’t break my wrist!” Instantly the pain stopped and the weight of his body was gone. Rolling to my side, I grabbed my wrist in my other hand. The  _ sheen click  _ of him sheathing his swords sounded and I just lay there on the deck, holding my wrist as he simply walked quietly away.

It was obvious who had won today...but why was he acting so different today? The throbbing in my wrist started to catch my attention.

Standing, I lit a cigarette and held my arm against my chest. I would have to go see Chopper in a minute.

The doctor's look of concern was always the same, only today he sighed as he dug a roll of tape from his supplies. “You two need to stop this.”

“Yeah, I know,” my wrist had a sprain and was laid out on the table for Chopper to wrap. “Its seems more habit now than anything. He was different today though. I mean, look, he actually hurt me.”

“Interesting...” Chopper carefully wrapped the tape around my wrist, then cut it. “You can use it as long as you're careful. No fancy pan flips for a few days.”

“Thanks Chopper,” I grinned. “What do you want for dinner as a 'thank you?'”

* * *

Luffy didn’t fight me as I told him it was his night for dishes. He simply nodded and went about gathering the dishes from a now empty table. He was quiet for a minute as I pulled a cookbook down, along with a pencil and paper, off the frig to start on the next morning's meal.

Luckily the wrist Zoro hurt was not my writing hand, but turning the pages of my book took a little effort.

“What happened?” Luffy never turned to look at me, just calmly continued to wash the dishes.

“Hmm?” I looked up for a second, then to my wrist. “Zoro won today.”

“I see.” Luffy was being a little too serious for his normal self. “He hurt you.”

“Its just a sprain. Chopper says in a few days I will be fine.” I started scribbling a list of items I would need from the storage areas.

“Did he do it on purpose?” he set a plate down on the stack of clean dishes and picked up a pot. “You guys seem to be in trouble lately. Always at each others throats, barely talking unless you're fighting.”

I stopped. Setting down the pencil, I thought back. Something definitely was off, but when did it start? Everyone had been stressed recently with all the crap we had been put through...Usopp and Luffy's fight, the Merry and Robin. “He's been acting strange for a while now. Waking up in the middle of the night covered in sweat and out of breath. Sometimes he just doesn't seem like...him.”

“You know him better than the rest of us.” Luffy never turned to look at me. Just kept up with the dishes, only answering when I say something.

“I...I thought I did.” I was quiet a minute. With everything we had gone through, everything we had talked about, I really thought I knew Roronoa Zoro. As of late, I wasn't as sure. “I'm...I”m not sure if he hurt me on purpose or not.”

Luffy made some weird Luffy sound, set the plate down he had been holding and quietly walked to the door, leaving me all alone. The dishes were done and I had to finish prepping for breakfast. Not sure what was going through my Captain's head, but I had a pretty good idea. He was off to seek out that shit swordsman.

* * *

Turns out I was wrong. I found Zoro is his usual spot, up in the gym and the place we had decided would be our get away on the Sunny. The scene before me as I climbed through the hatch was familiar. The weights had been moved aside and bedding we had moved up there laid out. Zoro was sitting on the bench, near the pillows, removing his boots. The scars from Little Garden were still red, not yet faded like the one on his chest from Mihawk. Kicking off my shoes, I took my suit jacket off and draped it over a set of weights.

The padded floor felt cool on my bare feet and I curled my toes into it, almost subconsciously. I had removed my tie, shirt and belt before he moved from his seat to the bed. He never spoke, not that he talked a lot anyways, but this silence, even though familiar, had an air to it I can not quite pick up.

Moving to lie down next to him, I shut the lights off. The darkness only seemed to make things worse. I knew he was there and though I would never say I was afraid of him, there was most certainly something eery about him tonight. I undid my pants and lay down. Instantly he was there, his body warm against my own. His hand slid under my boxers,coming to rest on my hip as he nuzzled into my neck.

“I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me today. I never meant to hurt you. It...it was almost like I couldn't control my own actions.” his voice was slightly muffled and I could feel his breath against my collarbone. I didn't move. This was the Zoro I knew. Calm, cool and unbreakable by day, affectionate and vulnerable by night.

“Roronoa Zoro...” I said quietly.

“Roronoa  Sanji.” He murmured back, kissing my neck.

“Don't play that game with me right now.” Without thinking, I hit his shoulder with my hand. Pain shot up my wrist and I sucked in a sharp breath through clenched teeth. He stopped and I could sense him look up. I grabbed my wrist with my good hand and tried to focus on anything but the pain. The throbbing hurt so much. “You really hurt me today.” I growled. “There was no reason for it.”

“I know,” Zoro said quietly, almost sounding ashamed of himself. “I could see what I was doing to you. I could see that I was hurting you, but I couldn't stop it.”

“Couldn't stop?” I snapped at him. “I said to leave my arm alone.”

“I know you did.” I felt his head come to rest on my chest. My eyes were finally starting to adjust to the darkness and I was beginning to make out shadows. His voice vibrated through my chest. “I don’t understand what came over me. I had you pinned and this possession came over me. You were mine and I was going to prove it.”

“By breaking my wrist?” my eyebrows lowered. “Some way to prove it.”

“It was a dominance feeling. I needed to prove I was stronger than you...” he took a deep breath. “Sanji, you have to believe me when I say that it wasn't me today. Even my meditations have been off recently and I haven’t found an answer yet.”

“Its not a reason to almost break my wrist. What then? You know I need my hands. There's a reason I fight with my legs. How else am I supposed to cook for everyone?” I sighed. I knew he knew this. We had talked about the differences in our upper and lower body strengths. His was upper, mine lower. It was no secret.

“Bare with me, Sanji. Please.” His hand went to the base of my neck, fingers drifting across my hair line. I unwillingly trembled at his touch. “I'm trying to figure this out.” His mouth was at my neck again. His breath hot against my skin.

“You don't even know what it is...” I breathed as he lightly kissed up my neck, tongue outlining my ear. I gasped as he pressed his body closer to mine. “...Zoro.”

“Hmm?” the slight hum of his response was enough to send a shudder through my whole body. Moving my head, exposing more of my neck to him, I brought one leg over his, locking both of his legs in between mine. His first hand left my hip and slid up my chest to the other side of my neck as he shifted slightly, leaning on the arm that had been in my hair. “Sanji...” he kissed my cheek as I brought a hand up and into his short cut hair.

“Yeah?”

Our lips met for a brief moment. “You know I love you.” And met again. I held him against me with my hand, forcing my way into his mouth with my tongue. Not that he really argued with me, opening his mouth, meeting my tongue with his. He grunted as I tightened my grip on his hair, but that was all, letting me have the control of our kiss. A long moment passed, us locked together, tongues fighting out a viscous battle in our mouths.

Finally, I pulled back. “I know. I love you too.” I never was good at staying mad at him for long.

* * *

I woke up alone. Well alone in the bed, that was normal, I was never really alone. Zoro sat cross legged a few paces away, eyes closed, in the middle of a morning meditation. It was still dark, the first rays of a far off sunrise just giving enough light to make out shadows and outlines.

His back was to me and as I watched his shoulders rise and fall steadily, the night's event drifted back to me.

I woke in his arms, the arm under me wrapped across my chest, clutching at my shoulder, his other arm over my hips, hand digging in between my leg and the bed. This was normal, but the grip that held me to him and the heat from his body were not. His chest felt way too hot against my back and his fingers dug into my flesh to the point of pain. That must have been what woke me.

“Oi, Marimo...” I had said quietly, elbowing him in the chest. “Let go.”

He made a grunting sound, as if in pain, but I knew I hadn’t hit him that hard and he mumbled something. I couldn't hear what, even though I could feel his breath on my neck. Quick short breaths, not the steady ones of sleep.

I was fully awake now. “Hey, shithead.” Managing to get out of his grip, I leaned over him and shook him by the shoulder. “Wake up Zoro. Its a bad dream.” Pushing him from his side to his back, his head whipped back and forth as if fighting something. “Come on, damn you. Wake up!” I reached back and swung forward, slapping him against the cheek. No sooner did my hand meet his face, did his eyes fly open and he grabbed me by the upper arms, flipping us over, pinning me to the bed. The strength of his upper body came crashing down onto my upper arms as he straddled my waist, his full weight baring down on me.

His eyes were wide, but he didn’t seem to see me. It was like he was staring through me, not at me. For a moment I panicked. There wasn’t much I could do with his full weight on me like this.

Then he said it. Breathed the word so lightly I almost didn’t catch it. He said it again as his eyes flicked to his katana a few feet away. “...Asura...”

My eyes went wide and I could feel the color drain from my face. Curling my toes, I kicked up, hitting him right at the base of his skull, knocking him forward onto my chest. My breath caught at the sudden amount of weight, but I had managed to knock him back out. Pushing him off me, I took a deep breath. That explained a lot.

It took some time for me to fall back to sleep again.

The sun was a bit brighter. I would have to get up soon to start breakfast. Sitting up, I noticed the bruises forming on my arms. This wasn’t going to help his mood any. Despite his gruff nature, he wouldn’t hurt anything he cared about. And knowing that he once again hurt me...

“Hey, crap swordsman,” most people found our relationship on the stranger side of things. Actually had someone ask me once: 'If you love him, why did you call him names like that?' I don't know. We just do. Zoro took a deep breath and looked over his shoulder to me. He didn’t say anything and didn’t have to. “Do you remember last night?” A small smile crossed his lips as he nodded.

“Of course I do ya shit cook.”

“No, not that.” I stood up and stretched. My wrist didn't hurt as much today, but stretching really didn't help it any. Walking over to him, I pushed his head forward. “Yeah I left a bruise. Sorry.”

He turned fully around now and looked up at me. “What are you talking abo--” he stopped. “You're arms.”

Picking up my suit jacket I grabbed my new lighter and a cigarette. Lighting it, I inhaled deeply and looked towards the ceiling as I exhaled. “You don’t remember.” His face met mine as I looked back down. His eyes were hard, not out of anger, but concern. Me waking up with bruises he didn’t remember putting there confused him greatly, I could tell. “Yeah this is your fault, ya shitty Marimo.”

His eyebrows lowered. “My fault?”

“Yup,” I smiled past my cigarette. “I think I have an idea as to why you have been acting so off lately too. It came to me as you attempted to kill me last night.”

“Kill...you?” he spoke slowly as if he didn’t comprehend the words coming out of my mouth. “Sanji I would never...”

“Oh but you did.” I grinned. Playing this off was harder than I thought. He touched my arm lightly as if not wanting to cause any more pain to me than he already had. The look of worry on his face bothered me. “Asura.” I said flatly. His eyes flicked to mine as if to ask 'What did you say?' “Yup. You said that last night as you pinned me down. I had to knock you out. That's where this came from.” I placed my hand against his neck. Something seemed to click in those green eyes. He made a face and turned from me.

“You gotta go start breakfast you lousy cook.”

“You love my cooking...” I said calmly. He sat back down and I knew he closed his eyes from the way he took a deep breath. “So that's it huh?” I grabbed my pants and pulled them on quickly, then picked up my jacket, flipping it over my shoulder. Walking over to him, I dropped to my knees and brought my hand to his neck, pulling his head forward till our foreheads touched. He didn’t open his eyes, but I knew he wouldn’t. He was ashamed of the reason as to why he had hurt me. “Zoro...” I said quietly. It was normally him, not me that had the compassion. It was weird, he was so different when we were alone, not daring to show anyone else how tender he could be. “Don’t do this alone. I'm here.” He opened one eye. “Let me help you.”

“Go make breakfast.”

I stood without another word. Grabbing my shoes, I threw open the hatch and jumped down, leaving that shithead to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

The moss head was the last one in the door. Luffy's laughter ran across the room as he found his seat. My attention was turned towards Zoro as he quietly closed the galley door, dressed as I had left him, minus his precious swords.

“OH MY GOD! BACON!!” Luffy screamed. “Say it isn't so!”

“Oi, Luffy...” I turned to him as I sat. “You know the rules: Not until we have all sat down.”

“Aaahhh...” he crossed his arms, pouting. Luffy never changes, no matter what we go through. I simply looked at him as Zoro sat to my left. I don't think his ass hit his seat before the octopus storm of Luffy's arms started.

The typical loud clamor of breakfast began. The girls sighed and ate quietly, making comments of how good everything was. I smiled, after last night, I wasn't in my usual swooning mood. I felt Zoro's knee fall against mine and I looked over quickly, but he was busy eating. His right arm was propped on the table, next to my left, head tilted slightly down and forward, fork held lightly in his left hand.

Picking up my own fork, Chopper took this time to speak. “How's your wrist this morning?”

I tensed slightly, but no one seemed to be paying attention. “Better.” I said simply. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luffy snatch a piece of bacon off Zoro's plate. The swordsman simply sighed through his nose and continued to stab at his eggs.

“Come see me after breakfast as we will change the bandages.”

“Could it wait?” I asked. “I was hoping for a swim after wards.”

Chopper was quiet as he munched on some fruit. I could see his mouth move to open as there was a slam and the table shook.

Whipping my head around, I heard Luffy make that weird 'nup' noise of his. The room had grown very quiet. “Don't.” I heard Zoro say quietly. He tilted his head to look at Luffy as our Captain tilted his to the side in his normal quizzical manner. “Touch his plate.”

That’s when I realized what was going on. Luffy, seeing that I wasn’t paying attention, must have gone after the food on my plate. Zoro's right arm was up now, grasping Luffy's wrist, fingers wiggling around wildly. His speed always amazed me. That shithead slept all the time and never seemed to care about anything, but when he wanted to...damn he was fast.

Our conversation from last night came back. 'It was a possessive thing.  You were mine and I was going to prove it.' I watched as Luffy's eyebrows tilted downward slightly, head still tilted at that weird angle. “Zoro.” He growled and the wiggling fingers began a fist. Without hesitation, I kicked Zoro under the table. The dumbass grunted, but let go. Luffy's arm went 'snap' and he rolled his shoulder. No one dared move. A second later, a grin split across our Captain's features as he “hee-heed” everyone and went back to eating.

I stared dumbfounded at Zoro as he picked up his drink. Our relationship was no secret, there could be no secrets with Luffy, he didn’t like it, but it was  _ our  _ relationship. We had agreed we would try not to even acknowledge it around the others simply for their sake. This crossed that line. I was entirely capable of defending my own food if I must, there was no need for Zoro to involve himself. And certainty not like he had.

His glass clinked against the edge of his plate and he turned to me, a wide grin across his face. Did he not realize what he had done? “Thanks for breakfast Sanji,” he said happily.

It was Usopp to hit the table this time as his stood up. “That’s it! I want off this ship. Zoro is just creepin' me out!” and he left the galley in a hurry.

“Yeah...” I said quietly as Usopp's plate flew past, courtesy of Luffy. The rest of breakfast went according to our insane plan...and was as uneventful as any with Luffy could be. Zoro understood by now, that if Luffy was the last one to do dishes, that I would be after him next, so I didn’t even bother asking him to stick around.

Pulling all my cooking books and menu making supplies down, I set to work at the counter as my green haired counter part started the dishes. We were quiet for a while, but soon it began to bother me. Tapping my pencil eraser against my book, I waited for him to speak.  _ Clink clink. _ He didn’t.

With a growl, I slammed my hands on the counter standing up. Pain shot up my arm, but I ignored it. “What the fuck were you doing this morning?!”

He stopped and turned to me. The look of confusion on his face told me he had no idea what I meant. “Next time I won't thank you for making me another amazing meal.” he shot back angrily, eyebrows lowered.

I paused, but shook my head. “Not that. I appreciate that, but I meant you attacking Luffy.”

Zoro openly laughed at me. “I would never do something like that.”

“But you did,” I shot back. Lighting a cigarette, I pointed at him. “You opened attacked Luffy during breakfast.”

“What for?” Zoro scratched his head. I could tell he was thinking back, trying to remember. I took a drag, exhaling at the ceiling, catching his shrug out of the corner of my eye. “I don't remember.”

“How could you--” I stopped. 'Not remember, it was thirty minutes ago.' I wanted to say when it hit me. Maybe this Asura thing was far worse than he was letting on. Robin would have something on it in her books. “You really don't do you?” I asked quietly.

“I remember coming in, sitting, eating and Usopp storming out claiming it was my fault. Oh and thanking you.” The look on his face told me the look on my face: shock and confusion. It wasn’t like that idiot to lie, so that wasn’t it at all. He honestly didn’t remember grabbing Luffy. “What did I do?”

“Who's this Asura?” I changed the subject abruptly. He didn’t seem to like it at all. He sighed and scratched his head again. Ugh, his stupid habits sometimes. “Well?”

“Its not a who, its a they. Its a group of deities, each praying on a different emotional trait.” he said flatly.

“And you thought building techniques around them was a good idea...why?” He simply shrugged. “Don’t--” I mimicked his shrug. “-me. Why?”

“I need to be stronger Sanji. I need to protect...” he paused. “Everyone.”

“Its not working.” Crossing my arms, I frowned. “You've hurt me and freaked everyone out by attacking Luffy. You, of all people.”

Zoro bit his lip at that. It was a true enough statement. Him of all the nakama of the crew would be last to raise a hand to Luffy. Hell, we had seen it, it had taken a lot for him to fight Luffy. Well, okay, I hadn’t seen it, but Nami told me about it. Zoro never flinched when Luffy picked food off his plate, or bothered him while training or anything. The relationship between those two was a complete mystery to me, but it worked for them. Just like him and the doctor...I shook my head. I was loosing my place.

“Talk to me. You have been so distant lately.” I said quietly. “Don't take this on by yourself Marimo.”

He threw the towel he had picked up onto the counter. “I cant. I don't know how. I have gone through life doing everything on my own. I wont drag you through the hell I’m creating for myself.”

“But you are.” I was getting pissed now. Holding up my wrist, I added: “And lets not forget my arms.”

It was a verbal slap to him and he retaliated. “No one asked you to get involved if I remember.”

“You did.” I snapped back. “When Luffy dared me. You could have said no right then.”

“Uh, I recall saying 'oh hell no.'”

I don't even know what to call the noise I made as my arms hit my sides and I kicked at the bar stool in frustration. It was either that or Zoro...although kicking him seemed like a good idea as well. I tapped my foot on the floor as he raised an eyebrow. “Bring it on shithead, I don't even need my swords for this.”

“You don’t even realize what you are doing to yourself, to this crew...to...us.” I stopped. Turning on my heel, I walked out of the galley. I really didn’t need this right now. I was supposed to be trying to help him, not further tear everything apart. Ripping off my jacket, I slung it over the railing, then took off my tie as I kicked off my shoes. I stopped for a only a moment before I removed my shirt. The darkening Zoro hand marks would be greatly visible in the mid morning sun. “Fuck it.” I hissed and ripped off my shirt.

Jumping up onto the railing, I took a deep breath and dove over the edge. The cool water hit me hard, but it was just what I needed. The only true solitude one could get around here was diving under the boat, marveling at how dark the depths of the waters went. Part of me pities the Devil Fruit users. Unable to swim. Only able to float around in the tubes, half exhausted. A fish darted past as I came up on the far side of the ship. I blew water from my nose as I calmly tread water.

“You guys okay?”

The voice startled me and I looked up to find Franky leaning against the railing. He, along with the Sunny, were the newest members of our little messed up crew. It was moments like this, when Franky was actually being an adult that I remember he was almost twenty years older than myself. “Who?”

“You and Zoro.”

There was no malice or spite to his voice. He was just honestly concerned for his crew mates. I bobbed under the surface for a second and came back up sputtering. “I don't know. Enies Lobby really messed with all of us. Really messed with Marimo.”

Franky smiled at that. “Are you okay?”

“Me?” Franky tapped his arm with one of his giant hands. I looked towards my arm, guess the water was clearer than I thought. “Physically, yeah I'm fine. I've had worse. Mentally...I just wish he would let me in that stupid head of his.”

Franky opened his mouth, but Luffy's laughter rang out. It took me a second to realize that it really was Luffy and not the cyborg. Luffy and Usopp flew past Franky into the water and the other man rolled his eyes. “Swim over Sanji.” He turned and I dove back under the water, hoping I hadn't been actually spotted by the morons yet. Surfacing on the other side, back where I dove in, Franky spoke. “He seems very hard to crack.”

“Tell me about it.” I rolled my eyes.

“Should I try talking to him?” Franky offers.

I sighed. “No, that will make matters worse.” I paused as Franky looked off to his left and I heard the galley door close. A moment later I saw Zoro jump up on the railing and look down to me in the water. His bare chest rose and fell steadily as he grabbed a rope near his arm. He didn't speak, just watched. After a moment his eyes narrowed and he looked as if he was going to speak. Instead he bounced once on his toes and dove into the water next to me, splashing me in the face. I closed my eyes and sighed, wiping away most of it with a wet hand.

“Guess I will leave you alone. I have to watch the children anyways.” He laughed and walked away.

The bubbles popping right near my face confused me only until a mass of green hair broke the surface. He was so close, if I wanted I could have stuck out my tongue and licked him. I almost did. I don't know why, but it kinda felt like a good idea. “Can I help you?” I said calmly, his feet brushing mine as we tread water. He blinked once and swam backwards, towards the rope ladder, wrapping his arm in it.

“Can we talk?”

“We tried that. Its why I went swimming.” I said as I swam over to him. With his free arm, he pulled me against him and even though I was still pretty mad, it was nice to be in his arms. Funny how even when you are mad at your lover, its the one place you still want to be. We were quiet for a minute, listening to the waves lapping against the ship and the somewhat muffled laughter of the others on the other side of the ship. It was nice to just feel at ease in the water, almost weightless against his chest, listening to him breathe.

Finally his chin thunked against my head. “Water 7.”

“What?”

“That's when this started. After our fight with Aokiji. We were all so...useless. I had to do something. It came to me while meditating....literally. I don’t do it often, but sometimes I go into a mediation with a question on my mind. I did that day and Asura came to mind. After that things started to get a little weird. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle at first, but now I seem to be blacking out and unable to control my own actions, from what you are telling me and its progressing quickly.” I looked up, removing his chin from my head, but he kept talking. “I hurt you.” he said point blank. “From what you say, I went after Luffy too. Who's next? Chopper?”

I had to smile at that one. Him and the damned doctor.

“Then we ended up at Enies Lobby and I actually had a chance to test out these new moves and they were amazing. I could take all the pent up...whatever...and release it into a swing of my katana. That's when you started to notice and I grew quiet.”

“It was mostly the nightmares.” I said calmly. “You never had as many as the rest of us.”

He nodded. “Then after I hurt you yesterday, I couldn’t do anything but walk away. It wasn’t you, I wanted to stay there. To apologize then, but like I explained, that it felt like I couldn't control my own actions...I needed to mediate on it right then. That’s why I walked away. I needed to know why I hurt you.” He sighed. “I really thought I had everything under control. How do we fix this?”

Part of me couldn't have been happier, I had gotten what I wanted from him. He had opened up and told me the problem, but the other part of me was lost. Now that I knew, how was I going to help? I didn’t know a damn thing about spiritual crap. I kicked things, I didn’t meditate...although I had been told I should. I shook my head and climbed a couple rings up the ladder. “I don't know, but we can figure it out.”

He playfully bit at my leg and slapped my ass. I looked down as he grinned and pulled himself up the ladder. Grabbing my free hand, he twined his fingers in mine. “You know I love you,” he said. “I would be lost without you.”

“LITERALLY! Bwahahaha!” Luffy appeared over the side of the rail. “Oi Zoro, I gotta kick your ass now because of breakfast. Let's fight!”

Zoro climbed past me up the ladder, my answer all but forgotten. “You're on!”

Sighing I finished my hike up the ladder and sat dripping water on the rail as Zoro and Luffy threw punches at each other. “I love you too, you stupid moss head.”


	3. Chapter 3

Everything changed that afternoon. Lunch came and went and Usopp grumbled through the dishes and hurriedly ran from the kitchen before I kicked him out forcibly. “The door!” I yelled after him and closed it. I hadn't taken three steps towards the counter when the door opened again. I pivoted on my foot, taking a deep breath to yell at Usopp or Luffy or whoever. It caught in my throat as Zoro closed the door. “Oi...Marimo. Shouldn't you be training or napping or cleaning your family off the sides of the aquarium?” I sneered at that one. Was pretty good.

He simply grunted. That didn't surprise me all that much. There were times where he would take a jab and just let it roll off him. The look on his face though, that did cause a small flag of alarm to go off in my head. It was...well for lack of a better word...possessive and not in a good way. His eyes were dark and I could see his pointed canines through his smile. Something was off and given everything that had been going on as of late, I wasn't sure who or what I was dealing with. Was it Zoro or what it this Asura...thing?

He took a step forward and even though my body was screaming to step back, I didn't. If nothing else, I came to the realization while cooking lunch that if I backed down to this thing, Zoro would act till I gave in. But I had managed to over come him pretty easily during the night. I wasn't sure if it was cause I didn't back down or cause I kicked him in the head, but hey, apparently we were about to find out.

Out of habit, I clicked my shoe against the floor, tensing, preparing for a fight. I actually wanted one, truth be told. The stress and tension of this whole thing was getting to me, plus I was still kinda pissed that I had lost the day before. It was a stupid mistake on my part and now I was ready to kick his ass. Creepy look on his face or not, I pulled back to swing...if nothing else I would kick it off his face.

It all happened in an instant and it didn't even catch up to me until I was staring into those glassy green eyes, my hands flying to his around my throat. The kick never connected. With his lightning speed, he grabbed my ankle and swung around, using my own force against me and slamming me into the wall. Instantly he was on me, one hand around my throat, the other digging into my hip, keeping me against the wall. His body was turned slightly from mine, one leg keeping mine locked against the floor.

There was a vicious growl from his throat and he finally spoke. His voice was like ice. Even in the worst of fights, I had never heard his voice that cold or that hateful. It was just plain creepy. An unwanted shudder went through my body as I fought to breathe. “You think you can take me Cook?” I don't know why, but his grip let up just slightly and the air came crashing back into my lungs. With a gasp and a cough, I glared at him. This wasn't Zoro, not at this moment anyways. Yes, it was his body, his voice, his strength, but the thoughts...those weren't his.

“Zoro...maybe not,” I hissed as I tried to break from the lock on my legs. “But whatever the fuck you are...anytime.”

The swordsman laughed and shook his head slightly. It was an evil sound, low and deep in his chest. His eyes snapped back to mine as he spoke. “Ya know...” he leaned forward and I heard his forehead thump against the wall. His breath hot against my ear. “That might not be a bad idea. I will tell you a little secret Sanji...everything he does...every word, every thought, every...scream he  _ rips _ from your gorgeous little mouth...” his hand came up and his fingers trailed across my bottom lip. “I know about.”

My eyes went wide and I heard my self breath out: “You son of a bitch.” He bit down hard on my neck and I hissed at the pain. I could feel that he had broken skin. Just what I needed. But then I realized as I tried to sidestep away from him and the pain, that Zoro had also moved and I was able to move my feet again. With a growl, I flicked my eyes to the mass of green hair that was still attached to my neck and hooked my foot around his. “Fuck you!” and I pulled.

His teeth ripped from my neck as he fell backwards and my hand flew to the spot as he caught himself, but I was onto this sick game now and easily dodged a wild attack, putting the counter between the two of us. Pulling my hand away, my palm was covered in blood and I could feel it making a warm trail to my shirt. I liked this shirt too. Fucking possessed moss head. He was buying me a new one.

With a laugh, Zoro ran his tongue over his teeth. “You're faster than you were yesterday.”

“I'm on to you now.” I sneered.

“Naw,” he laughed. “I think its going to me on  _ you. _ ” God damn stupid shitty bastard. Now was not the time to be making sex jokes. Fucking never failed.

_ Okay, breathe _ , I told myself.  _ This may look like Zoro but it most certainty was  _ not _ the lazy swordsman.  _ I pulled a cigarette from my pocket and lit it. Inhaling, I could feel the toxin calming my nerves. “Alright fucker,” I said around the butt and exhaled, replacing my lighter. Zoro's eyebrow shot up, but that was all. “Give me back my fucking shitty Marimo.”

He spread his arms with a smile. “I'm right here.”

“You're not  _ him! _ ” I yelled and moved. In a second I closed the gap I had made between us and dropped to my hands. With my left foot, I kicked his legs out from under him and as I pushed off the ground, my right connected with his throat, pinning him to the floor as I recovered. I heard a gasp escape him as his back slammed against the floor, the air forcibly leaving his lungs. I resisted the urge to lean forward on my right foot. I really didn't want to kill him...really, but right now it was taking all I had to not crush his windpipe.

I ground my cigarette between my teeth as I searched his face. Suddenly he inhaled sharply and looked me square in the eyes as a wave of shock and confusion hit him. “Sanji...what the fuck? Get off me.” Zoro pushed my foot off his throat and sat up coughing. His voice was back to being his normal flat tone and I just stood there, my foot hovering in the air. Zoro groaned and dropped his head to his hands. “My head's killing me. Why the hell were you stepping on my neck anyways?”

I kicked him in the side mostly cause I could. It wasn't too hard...okay, maybe it was. I guess any amount of sliding across the floor is too hard, but dammit he deserved it...right? Yeah, he totally did. I walked over to him and crouched in front of his place against the far wall. “Don't you start giving me shit, you lousy bastard. Look at what you did to my neck!” I pointed angrily. It wasn't fair, I know that now, but at that second my mouth and my brain hadn't communicated about what I was going to say.

The idiot's eyes widened, then hit the floor. He didn't say anything for a second, but then he slowly looked back up, his green eyes betraying the array of emotion his face was hiding. “You...you need to stay away from me Cook. I can't keep doing this to you.”

I don’t know what came over me, I think it was the look he had. Roronoa Zoro very rarely showed any type of weakness at all, so when he did....okay, yeah, its quite the turn on. I grabbed a handful of that short hair and pressed my lips to his. It was harsh, fierce and everything I could possibly feel for the lug all at once. I could taste my blood on his tongue as he returned it, nipping at my lower lip. Pulling back, I banged his head against the wall for good measure as I spoke. “I will not. I am not going to let you do this alone. How many times do I have to tell you that. Dammit shithead,  _ I love you.”  _ I put all the emphasis I could into that sentence. I meant it, truly. “I am not going to sit back and let whatever this is destroy you.”

“It's going to destroy you first.” He shot back and pushed me away from him, standing up. I hit the floor as my legs came out from under me. “I can't let that happen.”

“I'm not some fragile, helpless little--”

He cut me off. “I know you're not. That's why I can't. You won't back away from this and at some point I will seriously hurt you Sanji.” I watched his back, his hand on the door. “I—I don't think I could live with myself if I ever did permanent damage to you.” With that, he opened the door and left.

“Fucking bastard!” I yelled after him, slamming a heel into the floor. “You stubborn moron! This isn't about just you!” But it was either too late and he was gone or he heard me and just wasn't taking the bait for a new fight. That pissed me off even more.

Remembering my neck, I brought my hand up. I was still bleeding, but not as bad as I was just a minute before. With a sigh, I dropped my hand to my lap, where I stared at the blood for what seemed like forever. Standing, I took the cigarette from my mouth and walked to the door. Chopper was gonna love this one...

“Sanji!” his shrill voice pierced the quiet of the little infirmary. “What happened?”

I looked at him. “I got bit.”

“I can see that. Sit. Right now. I need to clean it before it gets infected. Whoever bit you could have some sort of germs that could cause an infection and that could get into your blood and...Oh, Sanji! That would be horrible!”

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed as the reindeer prattled on. “I'm sure I won't get an an infection. It was Zoro.”

“Zoro?” Chopper almost dropped his bottle of sterilizer solution. “He bit you...you guys need to stop being so rough with each other. What you two consider to be a turn on--”

“Chopper! No, he attacked me and bit me. He's lucky I didn't kill him honestly.”

“Lie down on the bed. I need to get to your neck from a good angle.” I did as I was told, lying on my side so he could clean and bandage the mark. It brought a sick smile to my lips...under different circumstances, I might have even welcomed the injury. Oh well. “Where is Zoro now? Does Luffy know?”

I winced as Chopper dabbed at the wound with a cotton ball. “I came to you first. Figured you would kill me if not.”

“With you still bleeding a little, I most certainly would have. But you need to go straight to him after this.” I knew the doctor was trying to be gentle and careful, but damn it stung like hell. Stupid shitty swordsman and his sharp teeth. “It's going to scar in places.”

Oh good, a permanent Zoro mark...awesome. “Well the good news is now you don't need to get those dental records for him.”

“Sanji!” Chopper laughed. “That's not even funny. He could have done so much worse.”

He wiped a cloth across my neck, then placed a gauze pad over it. It was cool and wet, some sort of antibiotic if I had to venture a guess. Then I heard the scissors and the little doctor pressed some tape across my neck. Sitting up, he gestured to the shirt and I frowned as I took it off. Completely ruined. Another down. “Can I go yet?”

“Get the rest of the blood off you. There's a wash cloth next to the wash basin. No shower tonight. Then you can go...straight to Luffy.” He crossed his little arms. Sighing, he bowed his head. “Sanji...” he asked quietly. Looking back up to me, I could see tears start to form in the corners of his eyes. “What's wrong with Zoro?”

“I'm trying to figure that out Chopper. He's too stubborn to let me help.”

“You have to help him Sanji!” The tears were flowing freely now as Chopper jumped onto the bed next to me as I cleaned the blood off my chest and arm.

“I'm trying Chopper.” I snapped. I didn't mean too, but hell, I was getting tired and my neck hurt and I still had dinner to cook and Luffy to talk to and... “Ah, damn, I’m sorry Chopper. Just its been a rough twenty-four hours.”

The reindeer sniffed and nodded. “Its okay. How is your wrist anyways?”

“Compared to my neck? Awesome.” I laughed. “It still hurts, I landed on it earlier while fighting with Zoro so there's that as well.” I threw the washcloth in the basin and stood up. “Well, I better to get a new shirt. Thanks Chopper.” I left with a wave before the little guy could protest. I shared his concern though. I had to help him and I honestly had no idea how I was going to do that. I kicked the mast as I walked past and heard a scolding yell from our shipwright that I ignored. Hands in my pockets, I went to get a new shirt and made my way back up to the kitchen.

The door was cracked and as I pushed it open... “Luffy! Get out of my cabinets!”

“But Saaanjiii....” he started whining as he turned to face me. “I'm hun--” the word caught in his throat as he saw my neck. I had opted for a T-shirt as to not irritate the mark for the time being. “What happened?”

I shrugged. “Zoro and I got into another fight.”

“Something's not right.” Luffy sat on a stool, suddenly very serious. “I could feel it this morning. The look on his face wasn't...”

“Him.” I finished. “Yeah, I just met up with whatever it is again.”

He nodded sharply. “We need to do something.”

“Oh I'm with you there. Just not sure what yet.” I glanced at the clock and realized it was about time to start dinner. Where the hell had this day gone? Wasn't it just like ten minutes ago that I was swimming and talking to Franky? “I will start dinner Luffy, okay? We will eat a little early tonight. I'm tired.” It wasn't exactly a lie. I was coming off my adrenaline high and my body did feel tired.

“Will there be lots of meat?!” Luffy bounced off the stool.

“Yes, ya bottomless pit. Now out.” I pointed at the door. “Chopper needs cuddling, go find him.”

“Chopper!” Luffy ran off and I set off to start dinner. Something light now and a snack later should hold everyone till morning. After a good night's sleep I would be back to making the large hearty Strawhat meals.


	4. Chapter 4

Before I knew it, the table was set and the madness of the crew came crashing into the kitchen. Luffy, the beautiful Nami-swan and Robin-chan, Usopp and Chopper, Franky and...Zoro? Where was the shitty swordsman anyways? Get lost on the new ship? I smirked at that. Wouldn't be the first time he took the long way to the kitchen. “Oi oi, anyone seen the moss head?”

“Haven't seen him all day, but Usopp and I have been in the workshop creating something SUPER!” The cyborg yelled and it echoed around the room. I rolled my eyes.

“I saw him storm out of the kitchen earlier and head for the crows nest,” Robin-chan said in her sweet voice.

“Thank you Robin-chan.” I said with a smile and turned to find the bastard. No one missed dinner. That was the one rule. Unless you were unconscious or dead, you ate. Zoro was neither. I was gonna kick his ass then drag whatever bleeding lump was left over and he would eat. I descended the stairs quickly and climbed my way up to the hatch door. “Oi, ya crap lazy swordsman, get your ass down here for dinner!” I yelled as I threw my shoulder into the hatch.

I expected it to fly open, I didn't expect my shoulder to hit it hard and I certainly didn't expect the sharp pain to run through it. I just stopped and snapped my head to the door and stared at it like a moron for a second. It really didn't sink in that he had locked the door, so I hit it again. Yeah, same resistance, same pain. “Marimo, what the hell? Unlock the hatch. Its time for dinner. I swear if you think you are gonna miss this meal, I will find a way in there and kick your sorry ass!”

I heard a soft thump and the voice on the other side was muffled. “Not gonna happen. Not after what I did earlier.”

“That wasn't you...well okay, it was, but you know what I mean. Dammit, open this door.”

There was another thump and a rattle of the hinges. I had no idea what he was doing in there, but I could just picture him, on hands and knees, forehead pressed against the hatch. A sudden wave of sadness slapped me in the face and I frowned as he spoke. “It  _ was _ me!” his voice was harsh, even though it was muffled. I hated that he blamed himself for all this. Its not like he asked to be possessed. Okay, well, he kinda had, but I don't think this was  _ exactly _ what he meant. “I'm...I'm sorry Sanji.” It came through the door as a whisper and my jaw dropped at what he said next.”I think I'm just gonna stay up here till I can conquer this...You know I love you Cook.”

I heard him stand and I slammed my shoulder into the hatch again. Out of desperation this time. There was no way he was staying up in the crows nest to do this by himself. “Zoro! Dammit, shit. Zoro open this hatch right now!” The pain in my shoulder was getting worse by the second, but right now I really didn't care. The pain quickly turned to anger though. “Fine!” I yelled. “Stay up there. Starve for all I care! Stupid use-less shitty swordsman!” I slammed my shoulder into the hatch one more time for good measure, which I regretted instantly, and went back to the kitchen.

It wasn't fair. Of course I cared if he starved or not. Making sure people ate is what I do, its who I am. He was not helping this complex of mine in the least bit. He also wasn't helping my growing complex of helping him and being there for him. Stupid jerk. That's what you did when you were with someone right? Helped each other, not go off on your own to handle everything by yourself. Although, when you're Zoro, that's kinda what you did.

The scene before me when I opened the kitchen door had me literally screaming and pulling at my hair. I had both fists buried in my hair as I turned a quick circle and just stared at the table. Luffy and Chopper were dancing on it with music provided noisily on Franky's guitar as he strummed away. Robin-chan and Nami-swan were gone and Usopp was attempting to sing...dear god no. “WHAT ARE YOU BRAINLESS MORONS DOING?!” I yelled at the top of my lungs and everything just stopped. I heard a fork drop and hit a plate, but that was all. “I leave for five minutes and this is what I come back to?!” I spat out each word as I ground my teeth. “Is there even any food left?!”

“Maybe...” Luffy shuffled on his feet as he looked to the table he was standing on. “It was really good Sanji.” He looked back up. “Where's Zoro?”

I snapped. “Oh, you mean the first mate? Mister Reliable? Our residential moss ball?  _ That  _ Zoro?! He's locked himself in the crow's nest and isn't coming out till he's either figured out whats wrong in that tiny little brain of his or dies! And I'm betting on dieing cause we all know he's got shit for brains! Thinks he can handle this all by himself, all macho and crap. Stupid bastard. Doesn't even care that we are attempting to help him!”

“Whoa...” I heard Franky say as I stood there panting. Okay, I felt better. “I thought those two were a thing.” I heard him say to Usopp and I just glared at him. Chopper burst out crying and Luffy picked him up as he jumped off the table.

“What's going on Sanji?” My captain asked as he laid a hand on my shoulder. “In one days time you have gotten three new injuries all from Zoro. What aren't you two telling us?”

Thank god Robin-chan and Nami-swan appeared at this moment. They must have heard me screaming and it was Robin who spoke. “Cook-san came around after breakfast with some questions about a name he heard swordsman-san speak of. The two of us, along with what he told me, could only conclude it being one thing.”

“And that would be?” Luffy was being serious for once. It was a god damn fucking miracle. “What's wrong with Zoro?”

Robin-chan smiled. That beautifully creepy smile of hers. “He's possessed.”

“Like by a ghost?!” And...it's gone. Stupid rubber bastard.

“No, I'm not really sure. From what cook-san was telling me, our swordsman said he had been meditating on a question on how to become stronger and this entity, if you will, came to mind. Since then he has been displaying a large variety of strange symptoms, including injuring the cook.” Oh Robin, you gorgeously creepy angel you.

“Hmm...” Luffy tapped his finger against his chin for a moment before one fist met his open palm with a light smacking sound. “Yosh! Zoro just needs to stop meditating and that will fix this. Where is he? Zoro!” Luffy yelled and started to walk out of the kitchen.

“Don't we have to do an exorcism or something?” Usopp spoke up cautiously. I glanced at him, but didn't say anything. For once the moron might be right. Even a broken clock is right twice a day isn't it? “How do they work? I heard somewhere that you have to light the person on fire cause ghosts don't like fire.”

“Hmm?” Robin said more to herself than anyone. The rest of the crew ran with Usopp's insane idea.

Nami-swan got this incredibly adorably evil look on her face as Usopp and Franky started discussing how they could build some fire proof contraption as to not set fire to the rest of the Sunny. Luffy listened on wide eyed and open mouthed as Chopper mentioned being able to make a suave for any burns that Zoro would receive. It was a brilliant plan...wait, wait, what am I saying?

“Robin...” Yup I did it. I whined at the archeologist and stamped my foot, flinging one arm at the Strawhat morons and the other towards the crow's nest. “Do something about our nakama.” In my defense, I am pretty sure my brain has started to leak from my ears after all the stupidity I have had to deal with in the last fifteen minutes. I’m tired and stressed and worried and ah, hell, there's no way to get past the fact that I was whining.

“Don't worry cook-san. I won't let them set fire to your swordsman.” With a sigh, I just collapsed onto the floor where I stood. I was so tired and ready for bed. All I wanted to do was curl up next to Zoro and go to sle—oh yeah, right. I groaned. Zoro had locked himself in the crow's nest like some pissed off princess. It was gonna be a long night in the boys' bunk room.


	5. Chapter 5

One, two, three days passed and no matter what anyone did, that useless swordsman bastard stayed locked in the crows nest. Chopper was beginning to get really worried about his health. He most likely hadn't eaten or drank anything in that time and without water especially....Chopper didn't need to finish the sentence for us all to know what it meant.

“Me?” I looked at Robin-chan as she asked me a question.  _ How am I? _ Emotionally I’m a wreck, not that I would ever admit that, probably not even to the Marimo. Physically I’m in pain. Yes, granted the wrap is off my wrist but it still hurts quite a bit, the bruises on my arms are brilliant array of yellows, purples and blacks. And my neck, oh my neck. It hurts to turn my head and the bruise around those scabbed teeth marks matches my arms. I have been forced to wear a T-shirt today because Chopper took the bandage off and asked that I not rub anything against it. I'm out of my comfort zone. “I'm fine, don't worry about me.” Oh and I’m tired...oh so tired. I had forgotten what sleeping in the bunk room with the others was like. That, plus I have gotten so used to feeling Zoro against me...

“We need to get him out of that room today,” Chopper was saying now. “It could really start affecting him. If he gets too dehydrated, he could pass out and we would never know. Plus with how much he works out to begin with and the amount of water he uses from sweating alone, we probably should have gotten to him yesterday.”

“The only way in is through that hatch right Franky?” Usopp asked and the shipwright nodded. Okay, maybe he wasn't so bad. A bit loud and a huge pervert, but he also fit the “Strawhat” stereotype pretty well. Usopp seemed to ponder this information for a moment before stating: “Whelp, we are most likely just going to have to bust in.”

“WHAT?!” Franky's jaw dropped. “You already want to destroy this masterpiece? What's with you guys? First my home, now my ship?!”

“Technically it's my ship...” Luffy said from the corner. “And I agree with Usopp. We need to get Zoro out of there. Its bad for him.”

“Right,” Usopp stood up from his spot at the table. “I will go get the torch. Come on Franky.” The two walked out, the cyborg complaining the whole time. It's not like he can't fix it again anyways. Besides I think all of us would rather have to use a broken door, than have to worry about a dead useless moss ball. Oh, that didn't sit right in my stomach. There was no way Zoro could actually die from being up there right? Right. Of course not. Besides, he was too stupid to die.

The problem still remained on what to do with said moron once we got him out of the crows nest and what exactly, well rather, who, would we be encountering. In this semi-weakened mental state of his, the likely hood of it actually being Zoro and not Asura was unlikely. “Can you see what he's doing Robin-chan?” I asked quietly.

Without a word, she crossed her arms across her chest and closed her eyes. Her face showed no emotion and after a minute of silence, her eyes fluttered open. “Swordsman-san is just sitting up there at the moment, looking out the window. He doesn't look the worse for ware, but only Chopper would truly be able to tell us if there is any physical harm to him.”

“Lets go.” Luffy stood, picking his hat up off the table. “Its time to get him out of there.”

We all filed out of the kitchen and met Usopp and Franky on the grass deck, torch and welding helmet in hand. Luffy crossed his arms as he reached the base of the mast and turned to Usopp. “Robin says he's just sitting up there. Don't go near him, just do what you do and get out of the way.”

“Yeah...” Usopp pulled the helmet on and flipped the visor up to he could see to climb up to the crows nest. Taking the torch from Franky, he swallowed. “That sounds like a plan to me.” He's such a coward, but then again, like everyone else, there when it really counts.

“Sanji,” I turned to the captain as he took off his hat, setting it on the swing nearby. “I'm going up there first. You follow.” I simply nodded as I lit a cigarette. Oh this was gonna be interesting for sure.

“You need to be careful that you don't hurt him.” Chopper was saying.

“We will Chopper.” Luffy settled his hand on the reindeer's head as we waited for Usopp to come back down and after a few minutes, he came flying down, shaking uncontrollably. Normally I would have spit out some remark about his cowardice, but given who was involved, I bit my tongue. “Well?” Serious Luffy was a potentially dangerous Luffy.

“He—he—he's...the hinges are broken, but he's not happy. He slammed something on the hatch door as I finished.” Usopp's legs gave out and his landed with a huff to the deck. Shutting the torch off, he looked from me to Luffy and then back. “Be careful. He's all pissed off.”

“Yosh. Let's go Sanji.” Luffy gave a quick nod and started climbing up the mess of ropes to the top of the mast. I think normally he would have just Gomu Gomu whatever-ed up there but he was sticking with me and for once, I was thankful for it. None of us had any idea what we were going to face when we popped into that room. Zoro had an advantage of sorts. It wouldn't have been very hard for him to surprise attack as we climbed up. Luffy seemed to realize this as well and as we stood on the mast, he pointed towards the top of the crows nest. “I will distract him by flying past the window, that should give you enough time to kick past whatever blockade he's got going on in there and then I will swing back around and help you kick his ass.” His “shishishi” laugh crept past the teeth of his huge grin.

I nodded. “Right. Ready?” And before I had a chance to get up two of the ladder rungs, Luffy yelled “YAHOO!” and was off. The metal of the hinges was still red from where our sniper had cut through and its a god damn good thing I'm flexible because no one else but me would be able to get a powerful kick off in the small area of the ladder way. I think the moss head just threw a weight at the hatch more to scare off Usopp than anything or maybe I really am just getting that much stronger because there was little resistance as my shoe hit the hatch and I came flying up into the room, landing lightly on the floor, Luffy shooting up the pipe and landing right next to me in a crouch.

A slightly shocked Zoro sat looking at us for a second before an evil grin crept over his features and he locked eyes with me. “Come back for more Sanji?”

Oh good... “We aren't dealing with the Marimo I don't think.” I said to Luffy.

He calmly did his pre-fight stretches. “Soka. How can you tell?”

How could I tell? Well besides the evil grin and obvious question of looking for a fight; I could just feel it. This didn't feel like the moron I knew, it felt more like the shithead I had been fighting in the kitchen. “I just know.”

Luffy stood up and rolled his shoulder, placing one arm on the upper arm of the other. “Shall we then?” Without hesitation he pulled back... “Gomu Gomu no...PISTOL!” His arm shot out, but Zoro easily ducked the shot, rolling to one side and gathering up his swords. He immediately unsheathed that cursed sword of his, his white one going untouched. Luffy's arm snapped back. “See what you mean...” he looked at me. “Doesn't he go for the white one first?”

“Normally.” I said as I tapped my foot on the floor. Thank god he only has two swords right now. The evil laugh erupting from Zoro snapped our attention back to him. He was still crouched where we had last seen him move to, the sword glinting in the sun like some sort of living creature. Man I hated that thing, but Zoro swore the sword knew who its master was or some bullshit. I didn't really get it.

“Oh, you're gonna fight me again too? And here I thought I was just gonna get to hear your sexy voice.”

“Yeah, totally  _ not _ Zoro,” I said to Luffy with a frown as the captain's jaw dropped. I could feel the blood in my veins rushing as my heart started beating faster. The last thing I really wanted to do was have a real fight against Zoro. Okay, yeah we fought all the time, but it never went beyond a few bruises or missing strands of hair...although I was still mad at him about that...

“Oh come on now Sanji...” Zoro said, never moving, eyes sliding up and down both mine and Luffy's bodies. “It's been three days. Aren't you itching for a fight? Or maybe not? Maybe you're looking for something else? Shall we continue where we left off the other day? I'm fairly certain that bite left you pretty turned on.”

“You bastard!” I yelled and the possessed moss ball laughed, but continued.

“I could taste it in your blood...”

“That's just gross...” Luffy put his hands over his ears, shaking his head. “Sanji, make him stop.”

An idea struck me at that second. It was our only shot. “Luffy,” I looked side-long at him. “Trust me on this, okay?” I pulled the butt of my cigarette from my mouth and snubbed it out on my shoe. Driving my hands into my pockets, I saw Luffy nod and I took a deep breath. I only had one shot at this. Taking a step forward, I laid on a smile. “Maybe it did.”

Zoro cocked his head slightly as I walked slowly up to him. I didn't want to get too close to him but I needed to get with in my range of attack. He dropped his sword slightly, but not enough for me to feel fully comfortable. God, hell, what was I doing? This was Zoro, possessed or not, he would respond to me. Play it cool and it would go smoothly. I took another step closer and reached out a hand. Seeing this, Zoro lowered the sword so it touched the floor, but he still wouldn't let it go. Another step and I would be within his arm's reach. My hand brushed his hair and he tilted his head, allowing me to run my fingers down his jaw line to his chin, brushing my fingers against his lower lip. Normally this wasn't something I would have possibly thought about doing in front of Luffy, but right now it seemed to be working.

The purr that rose from Zoro's throat as his eyes closed was a good sign for me. He was letting me close. His arm struck out and pulled me to him, his face coming to rest on my hip, nuzzling against my pants, as I kept my fingers in his hair. I looked back to Luffy, who had his head tilted to one side, that quizzical look on his face. 'Ready?' I mouthed and he nodded, eye brows lowering. Looking back to the now kneeling swordsman, I took a breath and exhaled slowly from my nose. “I'm sorry Zoro...” I said as my knee came up and connected with his chin.

I heard his jaw made a loud crack as his eyes flew wide open and as he came off the ground. I spun and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying out the window to the grass deck below. Luffy and I both shot to the broken glass as the swordsman landed with a hard thud. “Don't touch him!” I yelled. “Get his sword first!”

“I said  _ don't _ hurt him!” I heard the doctor yell and I saw Chopper dart out as we pulled ourselves from the window, practically falling down the ladder and half jumped to the lawn deck. Franky was mumbling about his window and shards of glass littered the grass around the Strawhat crew. I saw Chopper lay the sword near Luffy's hat and my head snapped back to the Marimo as he sat up groaning. I hoped beyond hope that  _ Zoro _ was actually the one who was sitting up, but the hand came away from his head and dark eyes snapped to me.

“That wasn't nice  _ Cook _ .” the word came out short and sharp. No such luck. How could a fall like that not kick start the brainless moss head yet a kick to the ribs in the kitchen could? Could this thing come and go as it pleased? Had it... _ let Zoro go _ ...the other day in the kitchen? Was it overly pissed off now at my trick and... Zoro's shoulder hit my stomach and we both flew back, landing heavily on the grass, his body on mine. I heard yells from the others as I fought to breathe, but my mind was suddenly focused on the hands trying to get around my neck. It was on now. There was no holding back. A growl ripped from my throat and I rolled to the side. I heard the grass rip out of the ground where I had just been laying and as I tried to get up, Zoro slammed my shoulder into the ground. “Sanji, Sanji, Sanji...” his voice was right in my ear and I shuddered as he licked the back of my ear. It was hard to breathe with him kneeling on my back. “How about I  _ fuck _ you right here right in front of everyone.”

I had no words for that one. I just groaned and rolled my eyes. The beating I was going to inflict upon his shitty ass when this was over was not going to be pretty. I got my arms under me and tried to push up. “I'm gonna kick your ass!” Zoro just laughed. That pure evil laugh that wasn't his own.

“Feisty today.” I turned my head as he spoke and my eye widened as arms grew out of his shoulders. Took me a second to realize it was Robin-chan's arms and not Zoro's. I heard her say  _ “Clutch!”  _ and with a snap and a pop, Zoro fell backwards off me.

“ROBIN!” Chopper was in my vision as I rolled over. He was fusing over Zoro. “Did you hurt him?”

“Not really.” Robin-chan's voice rang out with a small laugh. “Cook-san, are you alright?”

“Huh? Yeah, I'm fine.” I took a good look at the scene around me. Luffy had his back turned to me, hat on his head, looking at the sword leaned against the tree. Nami-swan and Usopp were off to the side, shaking slightly, Franky had his arms crossed and was mumbling about his window and having to clean glass off the deck. Robin-chan was offering me a hand up. “I'm good, thank you.” I stood with a moan and gave Robin-chan a smile.

Turning to Chopper, the little doctor was looking an unconscious shitty swordsman over. Tears were in his eyes as his little hooves flew wildly across his body. Zoro, for the most part looked fine. He had little cuts from glass here and there, that were bleeding quite a bit and his face was a little sunken in, but other than that, he looked fine. What exactly had he been doing up there the last three days? Had he gotten anywhere with this shit going on or had he just been sulking? “We need to get him to the infirmary so I can look him truly over. There’s a bruise here forming on his chin and I need to see if it's broken.”

“That's my fault, I kneed him in the chin. He was talking though.”

Chopper glared at me as he shifted to his heavy point and picked up Zoro. His voice was harsh for our little doctor.“Why would you do that?”

“It was that or he sliced up Luffy and myself!” I snapped back. Chopper didn't respond, just walked off towards the stairs. Luffy turned around now and took one last leery look over his shoulder at the sword. He walked up to me, placed a hand on my shoulder, then walked away without a word. As if that was a que, the crew started to disperse. Slowly I pulled a cigarette from the pack in my pocket and lit it. Inhaling deeply, I could feel the nicotine hum through my body as it hit my blood. What did we do from here?

A sigh shook my whole body as I sucked on my cigarette butt. I got about half way through when I snubbed it on my shoe and trotted up the stairs to the infirmary. Knocking on the door, I cracked it open. “Chopper?” I poked my head in to see Chopper working away at putting an I.V. in my swordsman's arm. I would admit to myself now that he was mine. The others could say it out loud, but not me. “Can I come in?”

He sighed as he taped the needle in place. “Sure Sanji.”

I collapsed into the chair by the door and just watched the reindeer work for a time. At one point, he shooed me out, saying he was going to do an X-ray and a couple minutes later, he opened the door again. As I closed it behind me, he was holding one up to the light on his desk. “You didn't break anything,” he said with a sigh. Picking up a needle, Chopper showed it to me. “I gave him one already, its a mild sedative. Knowing him, he will wake up anyways, but he will be groggy and not really able to focus on anything.”

“Okay,”  I said quietly. I wasn't really sure what to say. I knew food, not this medical crap. All I knew is that if Chopper said not to do something for a week, it was probably four days before I started it again. I looked over to Zoro, lying in the bed by the wall. He looked almost...peaceful. Although not a word I would normally label the swordsman with, right now it fit. All the stress of the last few weeks was gone from his face as he breathed steadily in his sleep. I don't know what brought me to do it and even Chopper gave me a weird little look with a flick of his ears as I kicked off my shoes and climbed onto the bed, putting myself between Zoro and the wall, as not to get near his I.V. I dropped my head to his chest and wrapped my hand in the thin blanket as I just lied there, listening to his heart beat rhythmically.

“Sanji?”

I didn't open my eyes. I didn't want to. “I will be okay Chopper.” The doctor made a little noise and I heard him walk to the door and close it behind him slowly as he left the room. “Dammit Zoro,” I barely breathed the words, not wanting to disturb the quiet of the room. “Now what? Are you even in there anymore?”


	6. Chapter 6

I awoke to Chopper shaking my shoulder. I blinked sleepily at him and as I sat up he handed me a plate of food. I stared at it awkwardly then realization hit me that I must have slept through not only lunch, but possibly even dinner here in the infirmary.  _ Shit! _ Attempting to get off the bed, Chopper laid a hoof on my knee, with a shake of his head. “You are to stay here as well. Captain's orders. Luffy said he wanted you to really take a day to rest. You have hardly slept or eaten the last few days yourself. You should eat.” He tapped the plate. “Robin has cooking under control. She's quite good at it actually.”

“Cooking's my job,” I turned my head to the side with a sigh.

Chopper jumped up into his desk chair as I picked at my plate. He scribbled some notes down in a book and turned back to me. “Has he woken up at all?”

I shook my head and brought my hand to my face, the back of my hand against my mouth. “Not that I have seen, but to be honest, I have kinda been asleep.” The doctor nodded as I went back to eating. Robin wasn't a bad cook, that much was true, but it wasn't my cooking either. To be honest it was kinda nice to have a warm plate handed to me that I could devour before it got cold. I must have been doing just that as Chopper smiled.

“It's good to see you eating again Sanji.” he said.

I nodded, mouth full of food. It kinda felt good to be eating. Despite everything that had gone on the last week and despite the fact that he was sleeping, eating near that moss head was relaxing. It was a hint of familiarity that was comforting and reassuring. I glanced over to him as he breathing continued its steady rhythm. He almost looked peaceful. The furrows and creases of his face were all relaxed, all hints of his typical scowl gone. His eyes flicked occasionally behind his lids as he dreamed about something. Realizing my plate was empty, I set it and the fork aside on the table and leaned back against the wall.

I wanted a smoke, but I knew Chopper wasn't going to allow it, so I fought back the urge to bolt for the door. My hands fumbled aimlessly at the base of my T-shirt and turned my attention to Chopper.

“How's your neck this evening?” He asked, climbing up onto the bed next to me. He touched it lightly and nodded to himself. Apparently he had answered his own question. “It's scabbed over nicely and the bruise is beginning to fade. Same on your arms.” He picked at the edge of my sleeve. “And  your wrist?”

“Its fine. No pain today.” And it was true. My wrist seemed to be perfectly fine today. The rest of me though...well that was a different story.

“You slept for most of the day.” The reindeer jumped down. “Dinner will be in a couple hours. Luffy said you could join us and its fine. You have no medical restraints, just need to rest and regain your strength.” He walked to the door, his hooves clicking quietly on the floor. “Just no cooking. Relax Sanji, we have it under control.” With that he opened the door and left me alone with a snoring Marimo.

I sat quietly for a minute watching the fluids drip from the I.V bag, down the long tube to Zoro's arm, where it lay at his side. Suddenly I remembered my plate and got off the bed quietly, picking up my mess to return it to the kitchen. Closing the door behind me, I saw an interesting site, Robin-chan was washing the dishes, arms sprouting out from various places around my kitchen. “Ah, Robin-chan,” I said walking over. “Thanks you for taking over for me.”

She laughed lightly. “Not a problem Cook-san. How are you feeling this afternoon?”

I raised an eyebrow as a hand took my plate from me and set it on the counter. “I'm fine, thank you.” I'm still tired and worried about the shitty swordsman, but I wouldn't burden her with that.

“Anything I can get you while you are here?”

“No, I'm all set. I'm gonna go sneak a cigarette before Chopper catches me.” With a final smile, I walked to the door and out to the small deck. I didn't bother straying far from the kitchen door as I lit my cigarette and exhaled, watching the afternoon chaos on the grass deck.

Franky and Usopp were cleaning up the glass as Luffy ran about. Nami-swan was lounging in her chair reading the newspaper and Chopper was walking towards the swing and Zoro's sword. The little doctor looked at it for a long moment before calling for our rubber captain.

I’m not sure what was said, but Luffy nodded and headed for the crows nest. Snuffing what was left of my cigarette, I turned back to the door and made my way to the infirmary. Closing the door, I turned around to be met by the glaring green eyes of the man sitting in the bed. My breath caught in my chest. I hadn't expected him to be awake. “Ma—Marimo?” I asked cautiously.

“Cook,” his voice was on the annoyed side, I could hear angry, but more annoyed. “What the fuck?”

“Have to be a bit more descriptive than that.” I frowned. Angry and annoyed Zoro was just as unpredictable as possessed Zoro. His eyebrows shifted downwards and his hand shot out gesturing to the I.V and the room. Finally confident that at this moment anyways, it really was that shitty bastard, I walked to the bed, explaining: “We had to get you out of the crows nest. Chopper was worried about you--” he rolled his eyes “--but it didn't go as planned. It—it wasn't you when Luffy and I got up there. There was a bit of an altercation and I ended up kicking you out the window.”

“You what?!” He snapped as I sat on the edge of the bed. He watched me as I climbed back to my previous place by the wall with a nod. Sighing, he ran a hand through his short hair. “Dammit, I'm sorry.” I started to say 'Its not your fault' but he cut me off. “Yes it is. If I mentally had been stronger...” He trailed off, eyes drifting across the room. “I’m not sure what to do anymore.” It was barely a whisper but I caught the words.

“Marimo,” I turned to look at him now and his eyes snapped to mine. “Talk to me.”

“About what? How I keep hurting you? About how I didn't do a damned thing but fight myself the last three days? This thing...I can't control it, can't fight it.”

“So how do we overcome it?” I asked quietly.

“We?” He sat straight up at that like it had never occurred to him other people were involved. “ _ We  _ don't.”

“Most of the crew thinks we could do an exorcism and burn this thing outta you. What do ya say moss head?” The glare I got was no comfort. “Seriously though,” I continued. “Are your meditations doing anything?” He shrugged. “Will you let us help?” I ventured and scooted closer to him. He glanced my way, but then turned his attention to the I.V. The moron poked at it like it was going to hurt him or something and sighed again.

I was still leaning against the wall, but my knee was pressed against his thigh. Placing my hand there as well, I ducked my head down to look into his face. “Zoro, please. Will you let us help now?”

He looked at me then, truly looked at me, those gorgeous green eyes searching my face for some answer I was hoping I could give. The scowl was gone, replaced with an expression I rarely saw, even when alone. There was no hate, no anger, no defenses. Just him. Just the shitty swordsman. As corny as it sounds, my heart actually skipped a beat as his arm came up, hand slipping to my neck. Fingers brushed the base of my hair as he pulled me forward, his lips meeting mine.

The myriad of emotions that washed through me in that second ranged from fear to longing to regret. Fear this wouldn't last and I would be left here to deal with whatever it was Zoro had inside him. Longing...the last few days had taken its toll, even if I couldn’t admit it and to have Zoro,  _ my  _ Zoro, back even if for a moment was simply amazing. And regret, oh regret. This was probably the forefront of my emotions as we sat lips pressed to each other, just enjoying the simple touch, mostly because I couldn't help him. I was just as helpless as he was. There was nothing I could even think to do and I was regretting that I couldn’t be stronger for him. It hurt so much.

He pulled back, settling his forehead against mine. His fingers never stopped their play in my hair and I closed my eyes. He took a deep breath and let it out through his nose. “Yes,” he said simply and his mouth was on mine again. More forceful this time, nipping and licking at my lip. All at once, I opened my mouth, his tongue invading as his hand gripped tighter in my hair and my free hand found its way to his chest.

His free arm, the one with the I.V snaked around my waist and pulled me forward, roughly into his lap, never breaking our kiss. With a grunt, he shifted his position slightly and I moved as well, settling lightly into his lap. Both my hands came to his face as I stood up on my knees a little, tilting his head up as I moved. He came willingly, his hand on my neck moving down my back, knuckles pressing against my spine. The shiver that came unwillingly from my body caused me to arch forward with a slight gasp. He chuckled at this and did it a second time, kissing my chin as my head fell back. I could feel the blood in my body heat up and shift south as that damned moss head kissed down my throat towards my collar bone, never letting up on my back.

With a growl, I brought my head back up, grinding my hips forward and down as I kissed him fiercely, biting at his lip. The vibration of his moan crept across my lips, but I was till moving, placing a trail of light kisses across his cheek and up his jaw. His hands slid to my ass as I bit down on his earrings. They clinked against my teeth as I wrapped my tongue around them and he hissed as I forced my hips down against him again.

Hands were up under my shirt, thumbs trailing my spine, causing me to arch against him again as I kept my assault on his earrings. I missed him so much. I thought about telling him so, but the idea quickly left my mind. I could tell him later, right now, I had places to tease and lazy swordsmen to make moan. Leaving the earrings, I went to move back down his neck, but his hand came up and held my head against his shoulder. His breath was hot against my ear and I could feel my growing hard on react to his deep voice. For once I was glad I wasn't wearing my dress slacks, but loose sleep pants instead.

“Fucking cook,” he said as he nipped at my ear. “The shit you pull...”

“You love it.” I said back as I closed my eyes and tilted my head as best I could against his shoulder. Moving one hand down his chest, I slipped it under his haramaki to the button on his pants.

“Don't,” he warned kissing farther down my neck. He nipped and licked as he went, taking his time, torturing me with every little thing he did. Well two could play this game and I was going to prove it as I swiftly undid the button and zipper, slipping my hand inside his pants. There was a sharp intake of breath as I wrapped my fingers around his hard length and I could feel the throbbing and the heat of him against my palm.

His free hand moved from my back, slid over my hip and to the simple bow knot of my pants. With a quick flick, he had it undone and hooked his fingers against the waist band. Biting once more at my neck, he kissed lower as I let a pleading moan escape my mouth against his shoulder. This wasn't fair. I thrust my hips forward against his hand as he mouth came away from my neck. My left hand came up, fingers caressing his neck as I ground forward again, but his hand left my pants and touched my neck lightly, delicately, right where he had bit me a few days before.  _ Fuck no. This was not happening. _

“I did this...” he said quietly, trailing a finger around his bite mark.

I sat back, ripping my neck from his hand and leaning my forehead against his. “No,  _ you _ didn't.” My hand still wrapped around his arousal, I gave it a light squeeze. His eyes flickered but he didn't say anything. “Now you listen to me you stubborn fool,” I banged my head against his slightly and he blinked at me. “Stop it. Stop worrying about the marks you can't remember.” I kissed the corner of his mouth and he half-assed attempted to kiss back, but I made my way back to his ear, licking at the point where his earrings met his flesh. My breath was hot against his ear as I whispered. “And make some that you will.”

I smiled at the shudder that ripped through him as he moved his head to meet my mouth with his, finally returning the grip on me that I had on him. Moaning into his mouth, my eyes closed and I thrust forwards into his hand as he moved slowly up and down my length. “You fucking bastard...” I breathed and he just laughed at me. “Let go then.” I pulled my hands away from him and slapped him away from me. There was a frown and a small whine as his hands dropped to his lap.

Crossing my arms, I sat back, attempting to look angry, I don't think it was working though. I just took him in for a moment, eyes searching his body. His hair was a mess and his eyes longed for me to come back to him, to be able to touch again. Shoulders were slumped forward slightly and I raised an eyebrow as I noticed his thumb trailing lightly back and forth across his still confined hard on. “What?” he snapped angrily.

“You're so impatient. I never said I was done, I just said to stop touching me.” I leaned forward and ran my hands under his shirt and up his chest, exposing the warm skin underneath. His hands came up, catching my sides, right under my ribs. His touch was light, but I could tell he didn't want it to be. Giving him a quick kiss on the lips, I started working my way down his toned muscles, nipping and licking at one nipple, then the other, till both were erect and the sharp intakes of breath turned to impatient growls.

“Fucking shitty cook,” his voice didn't hold nearly as much hate as I think he wanted it to as I heard his head thump against the wall, his hands aimlessly wandering across my back. “You're such a tease.”

I hummed a response against his naval and he groaned. I could just picture his eyes rolling back in his head. It was amazing how I could break through that exterior shell. Silent, no emotion showing Roronoa Zoro and I had him moaning loudly at the flick of my tongue. Or well I would be in just a moment. It was more fun to tease him with the idea.

My hands slid down his sides and thumbs caught his haramaki and pants as I moved towards his hips and down. Even without asking, he lifted his hips, allowing me to remove the clothing, freeing his length as I leaned forward, kissing at his naval again, pushing the clothing down towards his knees. "Dammit," it was more of a whisper than anything as my fingers deftly wrapped around him again and I trailed my way towards the green hair.

A hand found its way to my hair, the other to my shoulder and the bastard half attempted to push me down, but I wasn't playing along with this. There was going to be no rushing me today and I made this painfully obvious as I nuzzled my nose into the short hair, completely ignoring the throbbing cock beneath my fingers. There was a loud groan and Zoro tightened his grip in my hair as my thumb traced a small circle across the head, smearing the small amount of pre-cum there. I lay there for a moment, listening to his heart beat pounding blood around his body. "Fuck you cook," Zoro hissed. "Really."

A small smile came to me as I leaned forward and gave in to him, dragging my tongue from the base to the tip. A long, low groan accompanied my action from him and I moved my thumb to lick away the small mess I had made. "Stop," The swordsman’s voice was pleading. "Dammit Sanji..." The grip in my hair relaxed and that was my que. I had won...this was Zoro's way of begging. I took one more slow lick across his head with the flat of my tongue before taking him into my mouth.

The body under mine tensed for a moment before relaxing with a deep groan of contentment. A sigh-like moan escaped him as I pulled back to the tip, dragging my tongue against the pulsing vein underneath. I quickened my movements, shifting back and forth from using my mouth to mouth and hand. My free hand went to his hip keeping him still as his hips bucked up into my mouth. The first one caught me off guard and I pulled away with a glare. The small whimper of 'I'm sorry' and the frown with pleading eyes made me go back. Honestly, like I wouldn't anyways.

My own hard-on was ridiculously mad at me by this time for several reasons, the main two being neglect and clothing. Lazily, I licked around the head of my lover's cock, pumping him with my hand, ignoring the pulsing in my own groin when his hand caught my wrist, stilling my movements. "I'm gonna..." He swallowed hard and I flicked my eyes up to him. Mouth slightly open, he was breathing raggedly through lips he had clearly been biting. There was a shake of his head and in the stillness, I heard his earrings clink. "Not like this."

Sitting back, I tilted my head slightly. "You want me, is that it Marimo?" My tone was quiet, seductive. That was one thing I was incredibly good at. I grinned. "How bad? Will you beg me?"

"Sanji!" He cried, his voice cracking with an amazing mix of pure lust and hatred. His hand snapped out and grabbed my shirt collar, pulling me towards him. I fell ungracefully across his chest and he dragged me up till our eyes met. "You telling me you don't cook?" he eyes flicked down and he sneered. "Course that would be a lie, wouldn't it?"

With a growl I jerked back from his grip, just to dive back in and attack his mouth. The kiss was fierce with tongues and teeth and I lost myself in the kiss. All I could taste was stale sake and a hint of metal. All I could smell was sweat and the sea. I was surrounded by the intoxicating aura that was Zoro and would willingly die a happy man. He bit my lower lip as I gasped at the feeling of calloused fingers against my backside. Moving slightly, he grunted in pain and pulled away from me. "Wha--" I started.

"This fucking thing." And out came the I.V. Blood welled from the wound, but he grunted in satisfaction and ignored it, attempting to continue where he left off.

"You're not bleeding all over my clothes..." I put my hand to his chest and he rolled his eyes.

"Ditch the clothes cook," he pulled at my T-shirt. "I can't fuck you with them on anyways..."

"So romantic," I huffed as the shirt was rudely pulled over my head. Leaning back, I shifted from my knees to my ass and swiftly removed my sleep pants. The cool air across my body did nothing to sooth the heat of my groin and there was a groan from the moss head as I knew he was greedily taking in my body with his eyes. It unnerved me only slightly now, but the first few times we had been together it took all my strength not to shy away from his piercing gaze and kick him in the face. It was still a far away thought in the back of my mind.

"Ca'mere," he caught my hand and pulled me to him. The kiss was deep and passionate, saying things he could never put into words. This was how I knew he loved me. Yeah, he said it, but this here, kisses like these were how I truly knew. "Ya know what," he said quietly between light kisses. "Now that you have no clothes on...I need you to go to the kitchen."

"Why..." Then it dawned on me and I simply rolled my eyes, grabbing my pants. Pulling them up, despite my groin highly protesting, I left for the small bottle we kept hidden in the kitchen. Not that it would last, but at this very moment, the mood was ruined for me.


	7. Chapter 7

Blood and soap swirled down the drain. The contrast of the two making foamy pink bubbles huddle around the lip of the drain before spiraling down into the darkness. I watched with interest through half closed eyes, the warm water running over my skin and down my body. Pressing my hands against the side of the shower, I leaned forwards with a groan. It wasn't my blood, well most of it wasn't my blood. Damn bastard bled like a stuck pig. In hind sight, pulling that I.V out hadn't been such a great idea. Of course, getting carried away and ripping the scabs on my neck wasn't the smartest thing we had ever thought up either.

With a sigh, my hand came up to the bite mark, rubbing across it. The scabs had softened from the water, but it was still rough under my fingers. Parts would be till I drew my last breath. Scrunching up my face, I shut the water off. I still wasn't sure if I liked that idea or not...having a permanent Zoro mark.

Snatching at a towel, I stepped from the shower and onto the mat, drying myself off. The small clock on the wall told me it was time for dinner, so I quickly dressed—another T-shirt and a pair of Zoro's sleep pants. I only owned the one pair. Admittedly, they were a bit too big, but I pulled the thick strings as tight as I could and padded barefoot to dinner.

The crew was overjoyed as I entered the galley. Chopper explained how he had peeked into to see Zoro still sleeping—well sleeping again—and me gone. Robin-chan handed me a plate which I gladly excepted and thanked her for, turning my attention back to the table.

“How is he?” Luffy asked as he bounced in his seat, hat tilted to one side. “Did he wake up?”

Oh, yeah he woke up alright. “For a little while. I convinced him to let us help so we need to come up with an actual plan.” It wasn't a lie. I had definitely convinced him to let the crew help.

“Yosh!” Luffy yelled with all his typical enthusiasm. “A plan! Great!”

“Haven't got a clue, do ya Bro?” Franky asked as Luffy scratched at his head. Sometimes I wonder how Monkey D. Luffy made it to seventeen. Then I remember...He's Monkey D. Luffy.

He raised his hands in a shrug. “Nope. Got nothing.”

“So...lighting him on fire is most definitely out then?” Usopp asked around a mouth full of food.

“Of course its out!” I snapped at him and kicked him under the table. He mumbled something about him being glad I was back, but a glare quickly shut him up. “Anyone else for burning the Marimo?” I lifted my foot up, but the silence and Luffy's wildly shaking head brought my foot harmlessly back to the floor.

It felt good to be at the table again, enjoying the crew's company and not moping around. I was in an incredibly amazing mood now anyways and not even my captain stealing my food was going to change that. In fact, Luffy was quite quiet for it being dinner time. He was still inhaling everything in sight, but was keeping an open ear. Something he seemed to do more for his first mate than any one else on the crew. This wasn't to say he didn't care about all of us equally, just the relationship between those two was just as bizarre as mine with the moss ball.

“So what do we do now?” Nami-swan asked. She was so kind and caring, despite Zoro's hatred of her.

“I have some books in the library on what we could  _ actually _ do for swordsman-san. Well, besides lighting him on fire that is.” Robin-chan laughed lightly behind her hand.

“Is there anything medical I could do?” Chopper asked excitedly, standing up in his seat at the table.

“I’m not sure. Possession isn't exactly accepted or acknowledged by most.”

“Oh, okay Robin,” his little shoulders slumped forward as Chopper dropped back into his seat.

A loud thump caused the dishes and cutlery to clatter as Luffy laughed. “I have the best damned crew on the Grand Line. If you guys can't figure out something than Zoro's fucked and it won't matter anyways.”

“Thank you Luffy.” I rolled my eyes as he grinned. But he was right though. If our crazy little band of misfits couldn't figure out how to save one nakama from themselves than maybe we weren't ready to be a Strawhat.

“One thing I read,” Robin-chan began speaking, dragging the conversation back to a useful place. “Is that a priest could do an exorcism, which is like a ceremony, to expel evil.”

“A priest. Right.”

“How do you expect to get a priest in the middle of the ocean?” Franky asked Luffy with a cross of his arms.

“I was a priest once,” Usopp and his stories. “Saved a whole village from being possessed.”

“Really?” Both Luffy and Chopper stared wide-eyed at our lying sharpshooter as gullible as always. “Did you use fire?”

“Can it Usopp.” Nami-swan hit him on the head from her side of the table.

“This isn't so much a case of expelling what ever is wrong with that shithead,” I found myself saying. “As it is him getting control of it.” All eyes turned to me as I spoke. My cheeks flushed at the unexpected attention and shown concern for our lazy swordsman. “Like I explained to Robin-chan: this is something brought on by his meditations. He wants to possess the strength and power of whatever it is, but also wants to control it. Its a mental struggle he's having difficulty with.”

“Mental...” Chopper perked his ears forwards at this. “I'm sure I can do some medical research on that. See if there is anything I can create that can help.”

“That might indeed help, doctor-san.” Robin-chan laughed again.

Dinner continued in this fashion and once I was done, I got up to make Zoro a plate of the few remaining items Captain Bottem-less Pit hadn't eaten yet and announcing I would resume cooking in the morning. Thanking Robin-chan once again for taking over for me, I made my leave for the infirmary to bring the moss head his dinner.

The room was dark, just as I had left it. Hell Zoro's clothes were right where they had been thrown earlier. Was he still sleeping? I arched an eyebrow as I closed the door quietly. I didn't hear the tell tale snoring that meant he was asleep.

The sight that met my eyes was most definitely  _ not _ a sleeping swordsman. He was sitting cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed, hands together with fingers splayed in front of him. And then there was the blood. Guess a nap and meditating were more important to him than a shower.

I took the sight of him in. The evening's earlier events still fresh in my mind. His left arm was covered in his own blood and it smeared across his chest, up and over his shoulder and across his back and neck. His hair was spiked with drying blood as well, giving his green hair a sickening reddish-brown tint. One solid hand print—my hand print—was across his cheek, the thumb lining up in a nice vertical contrast across his lips. A smudged one slid across his hip and I involuntarily shuddered. I could still feel what he had done to cause that temporary mark.

I heard him take a deep breath through his nose and I spoke. My voice sounded weaker in my own ears than I would have liked it to be. “Ever hear of a shower?”

“Can't exactly go out there like this during dinner.” He cracked an eye and grinned. “Nice pants. Look good on you.”

“Shaddup. I brought you dinner. You're welcome.” With a grunt he closed his eye and went back to ignoring me.

Setting the plate down, I picked up his pants and threw them at him, catching him in the head. I heard a sigh and a muffled 'thanks.' Sarcasm even. With a huff, he pulled them off his head. “Did you just come to harass me?”

“Possibly.” Sitting on the edge of the bed, I leaned back against the wall, one leg hanging over the edge. “You ever plan on joining us again?”

“I  _ plan _ ,” he said sharply. “On finishing my meditation, having something to eat and taking a shower.”

“In that order?”

“I guess not.” He rolled his eyes and grabbed at the plate on the side table. Picking up his fork, he pointed it at me. “Ya know, your habit of making sure everyone eats is annoying. This isn't the first time I have gone a few days without eating.”

“It had better be the last,” I shot back, but he just snorted, cheeks already full of food. He looked like a damned chipmunk. “Don't even think about it.” I crossed my arms as he opened his mouth to speak. Instead he rolled his eyes again and continued to inhale his food. Might not have been my cooking, but was still nice to see him eat. Hell it was always nice to see any of the Strawhats eat. Yes even Luffy.

A knock on the door caused him to pause in his eating as I snapped my eyes to the opening door. “I need to check on Zoro now.” Chopper was saying as the door opened.

I heard the gulp from Zoro as he swallowed and I tried to hide my face behind my hand. We were so busted. “Ah, Chopper,” Zoro started but it was too late.

“Do I smell blood? Zoro did you rip out another—oh.” The door shut behind the reindeer doctor as he stared open mouthed at the Marimo. Poor innocent Chopper. As a doctor, he knew of course, but like everyone else, he had never been witness to any of the, um, side effects, I will say, of mine and the swordsman's relationship.

Zoro let loose a—was that embarrassment I heard—chuckle with a scratch of his head. “Yeah it got in the way.”

The reindeer covered his face with his tiny hooves. “Please tell me that it's not all your blood.”

“Yup. Sure is.” Just like that he went back to eating. Shitty bastard. I, on the other hand, was attempting, with great difficulty, to blend into the wall. Its actually a lot harder than it looks.

“Sanji,” Chopper said quietly, turning to me. That just made it worse as I willed my body to become one with the paneling. “You knew he needed the fluids, you could have said no.”

I felt my face flush red behind my hand as Zoro laughed. “Bastard tried.” Oh god no. He did  _ not _ just say that out loud to Chopper.

“Shut. Up.” I hissed each word at him.

“Anyway,” Chopper thankfully decided a change of subject was needed. “Guess you don't need the I.V anymore since you seem to be able to participate in extra activities.” Zoro made some noise at that. A happy noise. If he were a bird, I could see him ruffling his feathers in self congratulations. “Finish eating,” Chopper continued. “And take a shower. You can sleep in here tonight, but as long as you are eating and drinking, there is no real danger. Well,” he stopped unsure of his words anymore.

Zoro slowly turned towards me as if the look on Chopper's face was enough for him to put two and two together. I could just see the small wheels in his moss covered brain working. “What'd you tell them?”

“Don't turn this around on me!” I said, pointing a finger at him. “You told me you were willing to let us help.”

He opened to mouth to speak and closed it again with a snap. “Fine,” he growled out, but I could tell that particular conversation was not over with. We would be finishing it later. He proceeded to ignore myself and Chopper and finish his dinner.

Chopper shuffled on his feet. “Um, Sanji,” he looked up to me and I finally pulled my hand away from my face. “Robin said she had some books set aside for me. Would you mind getting them while I talk to Zoro about his mental stability?”

“My what?”

Chopper glanced at the rapidly increasing irritation of the moss ball, but continued. “I think given everything that has gone on, if you are not here and something is triggered, it would be safer.”

“Yeah, sure Chopper,” I slid off the bed. Honestly, I couldn't agree with Chopper more. It wasn't that I couldn't take it, far from it, I could counter whatever Zoro threw at me, but Zoro was having a hard time accepting he was capable of hurting any of us. Chopper was the best bet here. Him and Zoro were pretty close.

Zoro dropped the plate onto the table with a loud clatter of the fork I had brought him. “Okay, you can stop talking about me like I'm not here now.”

“Zoro...” I started, but Chopper jumped in.

“Given everything that has happened this week and everything that Sanji has been able to tell us, I want to talk to you a little about what you have been going through. If something goes wrong, I think it would be better for Sanji to not be in the room. You seem to seek him out when you get like that.”

“Oh,” Came the simple reply. I saw his shoulders move slightly, doubtful Chopper caught it though.

“Robin says that since this is a mental issue, I might be able to come up with something to help.” Chopper jumped up into his chair and pulled a notebook from the shelf on his desk. Flipping almost to the end, he picked up a pen. “I'm going to need to take some notes as we talk.”

“I better go get those books,” I turned for the door. Turning the handle, I half expected Zoro to say something, but he didn't as Chopper began to ask some basics of the swordsman. The door shut with a click behind me as I walked through the dark kitchen. Suddenly I really needed a cigarette.


	8. Chapter 8

The nicotine hit my lungs and I let out a small sigh, exhaling a cloud of white into the cooling night air. It wasn't cold, but a welcome change from the heat of the day, a light breeze making its way across the deck. Our flags snapped as the wind caught and Sunny creaked happily in the water.

Part of me wanted to be in that room, wanted to know what Chopper was asking, wanted to know what Zoro was saying. But I knew if there was anything of utmost importance our little doctor would tell us.

Physically, I was tired, but my mind was still racing with what all of this could be. What did we do with our useless swordsman? Was there anything we could do? Well as Luffy said, of course there was...but what was it? Was whatever this was going to cooperate? That was probably a 'no' if its attitude towards me was anything to go by. And why me? Okay, yeah, sure Zoro had gone after Luffy, but it was because of me. Was my relationship with the moss head getting in the way of total control of Zoro? No, that couldn't be it. That shitty moron was a lot of things, but not weak. Physically or mentally...well, okay a bit weaker mentally, but ya know what I mean. But perhaps maybe? Then again, is that the kind of responsibility I want to have over him? The fact that the feelings he has for me and vice versa being the reason he hasn't fully complied to this? He was fighting, even if it was right now proving to be a loosing battle.

I pulled another drag off my cigarette and ran a hand through my hair and down my neck, hand coming to rest on my bite mark. I could see the fading bruises on my arm and let out another smoke filled sigh. What was I even doing? There was no way I was going to be able to stand on even ground with this...this...whatever it was. These bruises and injuries were proof of that. Yeah, in the end I had overcome it, but I just got in some lucky shots. Every time I had come in contact with this thing of Zoro's, it had won. I had stupidly told whatever it was I could overcome it easily and it had gone and laughed at me, making me work overtime for the small victories we held. Or was it Zoro fighting back? Could episodes like the kitchen where he was just suddenly him again be that shit head over coming this or was it just the Asura toying with us?

My teeth ground against the butt of my cigarette and in a moment of rage spit it out over the edge of the rail. Upon doing this, I realized just what I had done and was thankful no one had been around to see such an unsophisticated move. Trotting down the stairs as I mentally kicked myself, I ducked into the mens' bunk to grab a sweatshirt, then made my way to the library.

A stack of books that I assumed were for Chopper lay on the floor and the stack of books Robin-chan and I had gathered still lay on the table, only now one lay open. She must have begun reading into what was going on. Placing my hand on the book, I spun it around so I could read it. The word across the top was honestly not surprising.

 

_ Asura _

_ Asura are considered a group of powerful deities or lesser gods. Once good, they slowly began the shift to represent evils in human nature and will feed off the innocence of whomever they encounter. Each one represents a certain emotional trait. Anger, lust, possession, betrayal; all of these and more are representations of an Asuras presence. _

 

Well that explained what we were dealing with. A powerful lesser god who...I blinked as a couple things fell into place. Zoro, in his stupidity must have caught the Asuras attention in his meditative quest to become stronger. And...more that one?! Each one represented  _ one _ trait? I tried to think back, besides anger, which was a natural moss ball trait, had there been anything besides possession? Even the indecent with Luffy had been a possessive thing. In the kitchen and my wrist most certainly were. That night in the crows nest... Okay, well that was up for debate. I did kinda wake him up from a nightmare. My first reaction would have been fight first as well. The crows nest and deck earlier today? Possessive and anger.  _ Anger _ . An anger that was not the Marimo's. Were we in fact dealing with more than one Asura?

Flopping into the chair, I groaned and let my head fall forward against the table. What were we going to do if we were in fact dealing with multiple Asuras? And further still: how did we fight a god? Even a lesser god? We had fought one on Skypeia, but that was one we could  _ see. _ How do we fight against something that only seemed to be a mental manifestation? Something that only felt a need to come forward when Zoro and I were alone? Or if it thought it was going to get what it wanted? It was most certainty present when it thought Luffy was a threat. Even on the deck, everyone had been there. But its anger had been directed at me.

Maybe Usopp and Franky are right and we should just light my moron moss head on fire.

"I don't think that will help the situation at all cook-san."

I practically jumped out of my skin and stood up, knocking the chair over at the sound of Robin-chan's voice. I spun bewildered towards her, an embarrassed chuckle on my lips. "I said that out loud didn't I Robin-chan?"

"You did." She chuckled lightly in her lovely voice and sauntered over to the table as only the beautiful archeologist can. Turning the book slightly to see what I was reading, she commented: “I found this rather interesting. Did you per chance come to the same conclusion as I?”

“Perhaps My Dear. That we might be dealing with more than one of these things.” She just nodded and smiled. “But if so,” My voice sounded hollow to my own ears. How did I sound to her? Defeated before we even  began? I most certainly hoped not. “We aren't even sure how to deal with one, let alone more.”

“I'm sure we will think of something cook-san.” Closing the book, she placed it on top of the stack and motioned towards the others. “Those are for doctor-san.”

How does she do that?! Robin-chan always seems to know what's going on without anyone telling her. When Zoro and I had decided we wanted to try something outside of that drunken dare of Luffy's, she seemed to know. The small giggles behind her hand, the knowing glances at meals. “Ah, yes, thank you Robin-chan.” I said and bent to pick up the books.

“Cook-san,” I heard her pull out another book from the stack and set it on top of the others as I stood up. “This one might answer some of your questions.”

“Thank you.” It was all I could get out. Damn her and her beautifully creepy intelligence. Turning, I left her in the library, catching a hand pulling a book from a high shelf. The walk to the infirmary was quiet. Well quiet in the sense that no one spoke to me. I could hear Franky and Usopp yelling at Luffy from deep within the ship. There was what sounded like an explosion and the shipwright yelling about something being 'not super bro.'

The kitchen was dark, but the small window of the infirmary was lit up. I could hear the muffled voice of Zoro as it rose slightly, then dropped again. How he managed to keep his tempter with the little reindeer was beyond me. He would fly off the handle once in a while at everyone one else, but never Chopper. Or if he did, like now, he would rein it in so quickly it was like it didn't happen. Knocking on the door, I heard a chair scrape and a moment later, Chopper opened it.

“Ah, great Sanji! Could you set them on the desk for me?”

Wordlessly, I did as I was told. Zoro was still on the bed, but sitting on the edge now, pants back on. One of the wash tubs was on the table and I could see pink water from where he had gotten some of the blood off himself. One thin line of bandage wrapped his arm where the I.V had been.

“We're still talking Sanji,” Chopper seemed to shift nervously at the door. “I'm gonna need you to leave.”

“Okay,” I said quietly as I set the books down. I picked up the top one from Robin-chan and turned to meet the swordsman's gaze. It wasn't harsh or cruel, just a typical 'I'm watching' look. I'm not sure what was on my face, but it wasn't what he was hoping from the way his frown deepened and his eyebrows furrowed.

He caught my wrist as I went to walk past and pulled me to him, wrapping his free arm in my shirt and dragging me forward till our foreheads met. I could tell he wanted to say something, but with our doctor there, he wasn't sure what to say. His eyes said it all though. He was sorry for whatever he had been putting us through and ashamed at the lack of control he had over it. “It's not your--”  _ Fault _ I was going to say, but he shook his head against mine and I stopped.

The hand on my wrist let go and his fingers came up, ghosting against my cheek. The touch held so much more, but he didn't dare. “Whatever happens...Sanji, don't forget I love you.”

A smart ass remark like 'Stupid moss for brains' popped in my head, but I fought back the urge to say it. He would never say it, but his eyes also betrayed one last emotion in them. An emotion that I was probably the only one who would pick up on: Roronoa Zoro was scared. Of what exactly I could only guess and I'm pretty sure I would at least be fairly close, but it was still there. “I love you.” I breathed the words. I wasn't fully sure I said them honestly, but I must have from the kiss placed on my forehead before he let me go.

Chopper cleared his throat and I turned, forgetting he had even been in the room. “Oh, right. Sorry Chopper.” I looked over my shoulder at my swordsman as I stepped through the door, but his head was down, staring off at something in the corner of the room.

“Sanji,” Chopper closed the door behind him as he followed me into the kitchen. “We are probably going to be up for a while. It might be best if you just head to the bunks. I know its getting close to bed time.”

“But...” I sighed. “Okay, you're the doctor.”

“Thanks,” He stood on tip toes as he opened the door again. It shut with a click and left me alone in the darkness of my own domain. It didn't feel like mine though. Right now it felt empty and broken. Lonely and useless. Or maybe that's how I felt.

The flame of my lighter cast strange shadows against the wall for a moment as I leaned back against the counter. Inhaling deeply, I could only think of what Zoro had just said. How could I possibly forget that he loved me? What did that even mean? Granted he didn't show it always, but then again neither did I. I don't know of many relationships that are like ours. Of course I don't know of many relationships at all. Forget he loves me? What type of bullshit was that? There was no way I could forget this feeling I had for him.

Yes it had taken a while to truly get there, to actually and fully accept this as something real, but I had and the peace that came with it was beyond anything I had known.

People will say to you: 'Oh I would do anything for them.'  And for the longest time I scoffed at it. Do anything? Even throw your own life away for someone else? Yeah right. Then I met Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and Nami-swan at the Baratie. The chemistry they had with each other was amazing. And they welcomed me right into it without hesitation. It wasn't long after wards we all got drunk. Somewhere after Alrong Park but before entering the Grand Line.

Luffy's brilliant plan of truth and dare.

It wasn't long before Zoro and I had been sitting in the kitchen of the Merry and decided to try that night over sober and maybe a bit slower.  _ “What's it feel like?” _ I remembered asking him a time later.  _ “This claim you have of loving me.” _

And now I know. I had laughed at him then, but I wouldn't dream of it now. Not when I know. Not when I am now one of those people that would do anything for him. I would do anything to protect any of my nakama on this ship, but Zoro...Zoro's different.

There's an ache in my chest whenever I see him. Nothing bad, but this feeling I can't describe any other way. Just seeing him makes me feel whole and complete. Not a thing in the world can go wrong as long as he's near. My body just comes alive when he looks at me and the euphoric high I get from his touch could drive me insane. Like liquid fire coursing over my skin and through my veins. Almost like I  _ craved _ his touch, his presence. I thought it silly when people claimed to be in love, but now...now that I know what it means for me; I hope everyone finds it someday.

My cigarette gone, I sighed. I had been sitting and thinking longer than I thought and the smoke had gone to ash before I could get a second pull from it. Turning, I dumped it in the sink, not caring and knowing I would get it in the morning when I came in to cook breakfast. Guess bed time was in order. Picking up my book, that's right where I headed.

* * *

I woke with a start, sitting straight up in bed, breathing hard. Whatever dream I had literally made my whole body jump and my eyes flew open taking in the dark room. Swallowing, at a poor attempt to wet my dry mouth, I ran a hand through my hair and it came away covered in sweat. I couldn't for the life of me remember what I had dreampt about, but from my body's reaction, I was pretty sure I didn't want to remember.

Swinging one leg to meet the other, apparently I had managed to throw one leg on each side of my hammock, coming to straddle it as I woke; I slid silently to the floor. 

The snores and murmuring around me let me know everyone was here with the exception of the ladies and the moss head. This caused me pause. I had been around everyone long enough to know who was who from snores...I shook my head as I picked up some clothes and headed for a quick shower.

It felt good to be in my suit again. It wasn't really different than being in anything else I owned, but just something about it felt...comforting.

The sun was just cresting the water as I crawled onto the deck, brushing off my pants. It wasn't really light yet, just a small dusting of a lighter blue near the distant horizon. Lighting my cigarette, I inhaled the toxins and reveled in the calming affect it had. Not that it really calmed my nerves or anything truly, well not this week anyways, but it was nice to trick my body into thinking so if even for a minute.

Breakfast had to be huge. I had been lacking in the duties I held on this ship in the last week and this meal was going to make up for it. Buffet style and something for everyone. Now that I had the larger space of the counter in the kitchen, setting up a lavish display of food would be simple.

Quickly and effortlessly I pinned in the combination on the frig and started pulling all sorts of things from it. A tray of eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, cheese, scallions, onions, various morning vegetables, fruits of all shapes and colors. Milk, cream and orange juice. Coffee would be brewing in just a few in the percolator. I pulled a loaf of bread down from one of the shelves, then went to retrieve the items needed for pancakes.

Yes, breakfast was going to be great. Pancakes and french toast. An assortment of meats for Luffy, hash browns with onion, a scrambled egg mix with scallions, green pepper and cheese. A large tray of fruit from apples to grapes to watermelon. All arranged in a rainbow color pattern. I stood back to check the spread to make sure nothing was missing and with a content nod, pulled a cigarette from my jacket.

I wouldn't light it this close to breakfast, but just it setting against my lip was enough for the moment. It looked perfect...too bad in a few minutes the whirlwind of Strawhat Luffy would ruin it. Stepping towards the door, I called out for the ladies to come start before Luffy arrived and I busied myself with fighting him off till Nami-swan had called that she and Robin-chan were seated.

As if that was the starting bell, Luffy barreled past me and sprang at the spread on the counter. “Dammit Luffy!” I yelled after him as Usopp stopped and offered a hand. I waved him off as I stood. “Better get there before he devours it all.” Sometimes I wonder if Luffy even realizes what he's doing, jumping around like that and causing a complete mockery of what I laid out for food. It's probably not done on purpose. If what we learned about him from his oh-so-loving marine grandfather was true, any food Luffy got had to be fought for.

The infirmary door opened as I was holding a tray above my head, the last few links of sausage on them, my foot firmly planted on Luffy's face. We all paused to see Zoro close the door quietly and wordlessly walked barefoot to the counter, picking up the last plate I had set out. His face was unreadable, not even his typical scowl, just blank as he rummaged through what was left of the eggs and fruit, pieced together was could pass as a pancake and a couple pieces of french toast.

He picked up a fork and shoved it sideways in his mouth the same way he held the Wado Ichimonji, flipped over a glass with his free hand and poured some juice, before—still wordlessly, mind you—walking to his spot at the table and dropping weerily into it. This was the only emotion he displayed.

“Saannjiii.” Luffy's whine brought me back to the plate over my head as his fingers reached and flexed for it. “I'm still huungryyy.”

“There's still food on the counter, eat that. I said no to eating these.” I kicked him back and sat down with my prize in front of my own plate. I heard a sigh and a mumble of 'its not meat' come from Luffy and plates clink behind us.

Slowly the clamor of breakfast began again as everyone seemed to relax with the fact that even though he was quiet, it was Zoro and not a possessed moss ball at the table. Franky and Usopp, along with Chopper discussed new designs and crap for the ship. The lovely ladies whispered about the weather and the latest news from the paper. Luffy was a bottomless pit of crumb snatching hurricane madness behind me as Zoro and I sat quietly, knees touching under the table.

“You okay?” I asked as I pointed to the plate in front of me. “Those are for you if you want them. It was all I managed to get before Luffy gobbled it all down.”

“Thanks,” he swallowed and stabbed at one of them, biting it right off his fork. Didn't even bother to cut it. Ugh. “I have a lot on my mind. I didn't really sleep well. We were up talking pretty late.” He gestured towards Chopper, who upon a closer look, despite his wide bright eyes, did seem tired. “He has a lot of...ideas that he thinks will help. I'm not so sure.”

Luffy appeared back at the table and I could see his fingers walking across the flat surface towards the plate as he, very badly, pretended to be interested in what Franky was explaining to Usopp about how the ship ran off a fizzy drink. Well where was this going to go? Luffy was usually able to steal Zoro's food, but then again Zoro was naturally prone to protecting anything I got him. Even before he was possessed, it was quite comically really. We had stopped somewhere and I had gotten everyone on the ship a small sweet with the left over money from buying food. Everyone dug in, except Zoro, who thanked me and explained how he really didn't like stuff like that. Yet when Luffy had tried to take it, the swordsman refused to give it up, saying how it was his. Eventually he gave it to Chopper, but the dumbass held on to it for almost a week, like it was some sort of priceless artifact I had handed him. It was childish. Cute, but childish.

Zoro pulled the rest of his current sausage off his fork and used the utensil to pull the plate calmly away from Luffy's fingers. But it didn't stop there. I lazily picked at my own plate as I watched the scene unfold. Luffy leaned forward now, hand splayed on the table and he stood in the chair, his other hand reaching across, hoping to snatch the food. The conversations around us died down at the battle for two sausage links. “Zorooo.” Luffy whined.

“No,” he said with a clip. “They are mine. The cook saved them for me.” His tone had this all important air to it as if to say 'at this very moment, I am indeed more important than you.' Usopp and Franky both snorted in a bad attempt to hold back a laugh and Robin-chan chuckled with a small 'oh my.' Nami-swan's beautiful voice sighed with an 'oh brother' and Chopper gasped. The swordsman scooped up the plate and for a brief second seemed to cradle it along with his food before dumping the sausage onto his plate, setting and sliding the now empty plate towards Luffy.

The Captain frowned at the plate before he burst out laughing. “Oh Zoro. You're so funny when you don't get enough sleep. Its written all over your face. No wonder you sleep all the time.” He stood up, adjusting his hat. “Well time to go.” And out he walked, sandals clacking at he went. Everyone else seemed to follow suit, except for Chopper who disappeared back into the infirmary.

It was a calm silence that fell as the two of us finished eating. It happened rarely, well with the exception of Luffy, that not everyone finished a meal at once, but today, I was kinda glad it did. There was no need to talk and for once I think both of us reveled in the quiet of the room.

The swordsman finished first and busied himself with gathering plates to wash, creating a stack over by the sink. I brought my things to the counter once I was done and packed away the very few left over pieces of fruit for later. I could think of something to do with it, maybe add some other things and make some smoothies...actually that would be a great treat for the ladies that afternoon...maybe add some strawberries to the pineapple and watermelon...would give it a nice pink color. I could ask Robin-chan for a couple of her flowers for decoration...

“Cook...the water?”

Zoro's voice brought me back from my menu making as he shut off the water in the sink. I looked down and sure enough, there was more water than needed for the dishes. I frowned. Never did like wasting things, even a little water. With a sigh, I plunged my hands into the water and wrapped my fingers around the first dish I came across.

“Don't worry about it. With all the crazy stuff Franky has, I'm sure that we can reuse the water anyways.” Zoro hip checked me as he spoke, catching me off guard and I grabbed at the sink as to not fall over. With a laugh he slid into where I had been standing and picked the sponge out of the water.

“Bastard,” I growled and using my hold on the sink, checked him back. He stumbled over to where he had been originally as I slipped back to my rightful spot at washing. “The sponge.” I held out my hand and he willingly gave it over with a, this time, very light nudge of hips with a chuckle. With my other hand, I flicked water at him. “That's a good Marimo...have some water.”

Closing his eyes and wrinkling his nose, the water hit him dead on. It couldn't have been more than four drops, but when he opened his eyes I knew it was on. His right hand swung up and into the rinse water, splashing me across the chest. My retaliation? The sponge to his forehead. Blue looks really good on him if I do say so myself. It fell to the floor with a splat, but we were already moving.

I jumped the counter as he reached to grab me and put that and the table between us. He reached for a glass and filled it with water from the soap side and threw it across at me. “I think you need to wash that brain of yours.”

I sidestepped and it splashed against the wall, but the second glass caught me in the face. I sputtered for a second, wiping the water from my face with a hand, but he was already running for the door, bare feet leaving a pretty easy to follow trail of wet footprints. “That's my wall! Look at my floor!” I yelled and ran after him.

I saw him swing left to run down the stairs, but oh, no, I wasn't going to play that game and as I broke through the door into the morning sun, I jumped up and over the rail, landing on the lawn deck a pace in front of him. Zoro stopped short at my sudden appearance, but grinned wildly and dodged a kick, slipping past me towards the lion's head. He turned though and grabbed me around the waist, pulling us both to the grass.

Air rushed from my lungs and I gasped as my back hit the ground and he laughed at me as he rolled over and came looming into my vision. That shit head watched contently as I struggled to breathe and as soon as I could take a breath, my knee came up to kick that look off his face.

With a loud smack, his hand caught my knee and I shifted my weight, sliding across the grass, cursing myself for I am sure there are going to be grass stains. Bastard could buy me a new suit if there were. I twisted my body to my hands, giving my free leg the room it needed to sweep across and knock Zoro's feet from under him in his crouching position. It partly worked, his feet did come out from under him but as he fell back, he wrapped both arms around my knee, pulling me up onto him.

For a split second it registered that I was kneeling over him and had the advantage, but then the grass turned blue with a few wispy clouds and I was back on my back, a grinning moss ball pinning me by the shoulders. “Fuck off,” I hissed and he simply shook his head, smile getting even bigger if possible.

“Whoohoo! Sanji and Zoro are playing!” Luffy's voice rang out and suddenly with a grunt Zoro grew a second head and gained a shit ton of weight.

“Get off.” I gasped. It was really hard to breathe with both of theirs weight now crashing down on my chest and Zoro complied, shifting their weight back up as he regained their balance.

“What are we playing? Are we wrestling? I like wresting. Oi! Usopp! Come play with us!” Luffy's wide grin never failed and I could feel myself beginning to laugh at this whole thing. Zoro joined in as Usopp appeared in my vision from the other side.

“Oi, Sanji,” He said. “You okay? I saw that flip of Zoro's.”

“Pretty quick huh?” Zoro answered shifting his gaze to the sharpshooter.

“That was pretty SUPER bro!” Franky appeared next to Usopp, lifting his sunglasses to his forehead with a thumb.

“What is this?! Some sort of spectacle?! Get off me!” I flailed about, kicking with my legs and bringing my hands up to Zoro's shoulders to push at them. I knew I couldn't move him but I was hoping to get my point across. The mood was ruined now that it had gone from all of us goofing around to patting that bastard swordsman on the back for pinning me. Okay, it was a lucky break, but like I would admit it. “I have dishes to finish! And a galley to clean!”

Zoro stood up, humoring Luffy in his plea for a piggyback ride and Usopp and Franky parted ways for me to stomp angrily back to the kitchen. “Dude...” Franky's voice started.

“Giddy-up Zoro!” Luffy yelled and Zoro squawked a 'no' at him.


	9. Chapter 9

I ground my teeth together as I slammed the door closed. It wasn't really anyone's fault but I don't like being made a fool of. Okay, sure it might have been harmless but it just rubbed me the wrong way. The door slammed open and an angry Zoro appeared. “Oi, shit cook, what was  _ that _ about?”

I answered him by spinning around and aiming for his head. Easily he blocked it with his forearm and we stood there for a moment. Hands in my pockets, leg outstretched shin pressed against his forearm that I was pretty sure was touching his ear. It had been close. God damn his fast reflexes.

A growl and he turned in towards me, using my leg to push off and aim a punch right for my ribs. It connected and there was a loud crunch as, once again, the air left my body forcibly. Dropping to my knee awkwardly as my other leg came down, I fought to breathe and decide whether the noise had been my ribs or his knuckles. That fucking shit head gave me no time as he kept moving, grabbing me up by my suit lapel and slamming me on the table. Pain shot through my back along with my side as he climbed on top of the table, pinning me there.

My feet scrabbled for a hold, but my back was bent at an awkward angle against the table and it was hard to gain my footing. Of course anything is hard when you can't breathe, have close to two hundred pounds of solid muscle bearing down on your chest and are waiting for your brain to catch up with j _ ust what in hell was going on?! _

Oh there we go. Pain shot through my ribs and up my side at the same time it shot down my spine, pooling at the point that the table edge was digging into it. Air burned into my lungs as I was finally able to take a breath, my vision blurred slightly from the sudden amount of different pain. “The...fuck...” I managed before I was pushed flat against the table top, my spine popping in defiance. Most people are not capable of bending that way, thankfully I was. It hurt like fuck, but besides possibly my ribs, nothing was in danger of being broken.

The fists in my suit flattened out and ground into my chest keeping me pinned in the exaggerated angle, making using my legs almost impossible. Finally I managed to catch hold of the floor, but with the water it was difficult, my toes kept slipping slightly. Zoro climbed back off the table, pressing his body against mine, one leg on either side of mine. “Well that was unexpected.”

I had been looking everywhere but his face during this time and I snapped my eyes to his as he laughed. That laugh from the other day and panic started to rise unchecked up my throat. This wasn't Zoro. My body stopped following my commands as an unbridled fear raised the hairs on the back of my neck and my feet and hands started trying to get me away from him.

This simply made that sharp canine grin he wore widen. “Trying to get away Sanji? But why? Don't you wanna play with me anymore?” His voice was almost pleading in a sick twisted sadistic sort of way.

Fuck the water from earlier! Stupid fucking shit! I couldn't get a solid hold on the table and my feet went back to slipping. I must have looked like some sort of fish out of water. The swordsman's hands slid roughly across my chest to grab my upper arms in about the same spot he had before. A dull pain hummed there but it was almost unnoticed by the sharp one of my ribs as I desperately attempted to get away.

“You always were a fighter.” This was said like there wasn't a care in the world. Like he wasn't forcibly holding me pinned against the dinning room table. Like he didn't have that smug smile on his face. Like he didn't have that horrible glint in his eyes like he wanted to take this someplace I  _ really _ didn't want to go right now. Oh god...

As if aware I was catching on, I was hauled up, flipped over and slammed back onto the table. His body came flush with mine as he leaned an arm across my back, one hand wrapping in my hair, keeping my head against the table. I managed to brace my hands against the wet wood, but without the leverage of my legs, it really didn't matter. My eyes widened as he ground his hips against my ass, the hard on he had definitely obvious.

“Shall we keep playing?” His voice was hot in my ear and it sent a shudder through my body, but not in a good way. Biting my ear lobe hard, he mused: “I will take that as a 'yes.'”

“N—no.” I managed as the arm against my back slid down my side, over my ribs, which caused a hiss of pain and to my front where he very roughly and rudely grabbed me. “Ah...Z—Zoro, stop.”

But he wasn't listening. Of course he wasn't...this wasn't my moss ball. This was that Asura thing. He started palming at me through my pants and deciding that wasn't enough, deftly undid my zipper and snaked a hand inside my pants. His touch was hotter than normal and damn that certain piece of anatomy for not being able to tell the difference between the two. There was a bemused chuckle. I had to look ridiculous. Every part of my being was screaming  _ get away _ except for that one.

“Just give in Sanji...” His voice was still in my ear and he started a steady rhythm of grinding his hips against my ass. He paused in speaking to groan loudly, then went back to biting my ear. “I promise if you give in it wont hurt. Well...as much. I want to hear you scream in pain.”

“You're a sick fuck, you know that Zoro.” It was kind of hard to talk with my cheek smushed into the table and probably not the smartest idea to make accusations like that while pinned by said fucker, but hey, when have I ever shut my mouth when I'm supposed to? I swallowed hard as I felt my heart beat from my groin. This only made the shitty possessed Marimo work me harder.

“Enjoying yourself?”

“No.” I grunted. Despite what my dick was saying, I really wasn't having a good time.

“Well we should change that then.” His hand left me, thankfully, but instead went to my belt, undoing both that and the button to my pants in record time. Sliding back to where he was, he roughly grabbed me one last time, my gasp of pain causing him to thrust painfully against me, before he slid his hand up and over my hip to his own pants.

Panic overwhelmed me again as I realized exactly where this was going. I mean I knew, but now that it was  _ actually _ at that point, all that emotion came flooding back. Again I attempted to get away, but with this new position and my head forcefully against the table, it wasn't going to work. I was trapped. This was really going to happen.

Tears welled in my eyes, not because of what was going to happen, I could take it, and not because of who it was. I knew it wasn't really Zoro even though it was his body. No, tears slipped down my face to the table because as soon as he woke back up in his right mind this was going to rip him apart. Once he realized what he had done to me while being controlled by this lesser god again; it was going to break him.

I blinked at that. That made sense. Of course this Asura would want to mentally break him. Then it would have complete control! And besides Luffy and myself...Zoro was the strongest on this damn ship.

I felt my body stiffen as Zoro leaned back into my ear. “You look so ravishing with those tears...” It was a gruff whisper as he leaned forward and licked them away. This Asura thing was fucked up. “Now,” he said as he hooked his free hand into my pants. “Shall we?”

“Oi Zoro!” I heard Usopp's voice and as Zoro's weight shifted to look up, I heard a loud clang and Zoro fell away from me with a thud into a crumpled heap on the floor. I scrambled up onto the table and turned to see Usopp with one of my frying pans.

“Did you..?” I stopped as I sat back on my ass, hands dropping to my lap to hide my erection.

“You okay Sanji? I just came to get a drink. At first I was gonna leave, but something didn't feel right. Please don't kill me for using your pan. It was the first thing I came across.”

I waved one hand, willing my body to relax and the pounding of my heart to slow. “For once, it's fine.” Good ole Usopp...for a coward, he always has your back when you truly need him.

“Was Zoro gonna...” He trailed off, not quite sure how to word what he wanted.

I crawled to the edge of the table and peaked over. Zoro was on his side, a small cut on his eyebrow from where the pan connected, but otherwise unharmed except for the growing bruise on his left hand. “Chopper...” I wheezed as the full extent of my ribs finally kicked in. “Get Chopper Usopp.”

“Oh. Right.” And he dashed past me to the infirmary.

I fell onto my stomach and just lay there panting. I couldn't do much else at that moment. It took some effort, but I did manage to at least get my pants buttoned before doctor and sharpshooter entered the room.

“Sanji! Zoro!” His high pitched voice flooded the room as he slid to the edge of the table. “What happened to him?”

“I hit him with a pan...” Usopp said quietly as Chopper shifted to his human form and bent to pick the unconscious swordsman up. His body fell limp against Chopper, head back and to the side, arms dangling towards the floor as the reindeer glared at the other man.

“You what? Why would you do that? I need to get him looked at right away!” And with that, he ran for his office without even giving Usopp a chance to explain.

I heard the pan settle on the counter and then Usopp was standing in front of me. “Come on,” he said as he helped me to stand on my feet again. My body was shaking uncontrollably now that the adrenaline had begun to wear off and it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe. I glared at him though, I was perfectly capable of walking on my own. “Oh, come on Sanji,” he rolled his eyes. “You can hardly stand here. No one is around anyways, just let me help.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes, letting him help. It made him happy and I would never admit that without him I probably wouldn't have made it to Chopper. We sat on the bed, then he moved away from me after I was settled.

“Sanji...” Little reindeer Chopper poked his head up from the far side of a laid out moss head and pointed. “Why is Zoro's hand like this? The knuckles are all bruised and one is dislocated. I am going to have to set it. Also,” he turned to Usopp. “Why did you hit him with a pan? He could have a concussion or worse. You hit him near his temple.”

“Hehe...well, um...Sanji?!” He looked at me for help and swallowed hard.

“His hand is from where he punched me in the ribs.” I said flatly.

“He what?! Sanji!” Chopper wailed and ran to me. “Lie back. Take off your suit and shirt. Where did he hit you? Is it hard to breathe? You're not coughing up blood so I doubt he punctured a lung when he hit you, but...” he stopped, his lower lip quivering and suddenly burst out into tears. “Why are you guys fighting so much?! I can't take it.”

“Chopper...” I patted his head. He sniffed and wiped a hoof across his face, doctor mode kicking in again as he started for my shirt buttons. I let him and leaned back slightly but the pain from my side spoke up and I stopped.

“I am going to have to do an X-ray on your chest. Its the only way to know for sure if they are broken. By this bruise that's already forming--” I hissed in pain as he touched it and he paused, but after a second kept prodding. “I would say they are.”

“Oh good.” I finally managed to lie back completely on the bed as the door slammed open to reveal Luffy. It was only at that moment that I realized Usopp had slipped out. He must have gone to get Luffy...shitty bastard.

“What is going on in here?” His voice was quiet and dark. “Usopp said that Zoro...” He trailed off as he looked around the room. I could only imagine what this looked like to him. “Chopper.”

The little reindeer turned shaking slightly. Luffy wasn't mad at him personally but the aura of  anger poured off him in waves. The Captain was pissed and Zoro and I were at the front of it. “Well, I'm not entirely sure yet. It looks like Zoro has dislocated his hand and he was hit in the head so he might have a concussion, but I can't be sure till he wakes up. Sanji might have some broken ribs...”

“How?”

I just stayed quiet. I wasn't going to even say it. The word tasted like poison just thinking about it.

“I—I don't know Luffy!” Chopper burst out crying again. Damn it all. “Usopp just came and told me that they were hurt. I don't know what happened!”

“Sanji.” Luffy turned to me and a moment of shock passed over his features. I looked down to see the horrid black and purple bruise forming over my right side and closed my eyes. “Well?”

“It wasn't Zoro.” I said quietly. “He came at me...was gonna...but it wasn't him...”

Luffy was quiet a minute. Arms crossed and hat lowered. I couldn't see his eyes anymore and that's what worried me the most. Finally he looked back up and turned back to Chopper a frown masking any other emotion. “Chopper, keep Zoro out. I don't want him hurting any one else.”

“But Luffy I am going to have to let him wake up to see if he has a concussion or not.”

“Fine.” He sighed. “After that, keep him sedated. I will not have him hurting anyone else.”

“But Luffy!” I sat up sharply. It was a huge mistake and I gasped. Luffy was by my side, a concerned look and hand on my shoulder. “It wasn't him.” I managed to get out. His grip tightened on my shoulder and then he withdrew his hand. He didn't say anything as he stood up and I repeated myself.

He sighed. “What if it hadn't been you Sanji? If what Usopp was saying is true, he just tried to rape you.” The word stung as if Luffy had just slapped me across the face. It put a sickening reality to it that I hadn't wanted to admit to. “I know you can separate and know the difference right now, but what if it had been Nami? Or Robin? Then what?”

That hadn't occurred to me at all. What if this thing had decided to attack someone seriously besides me? Suddenly I felt like I was going to throw up. “But...” I said again. “It wasn't him...” I just had to make Luffy understand that.

“Sanji!” He snarled and both Chopper and I jumped. “How do you think this makes me feel? Do you think this is easy for me? Zoro is my best friend. Do you think I really like the idea of having to keep him knocked out? I have the welfare of this whole ship to look after. Of all our nakama. I can't keep letting him hurt you or anyone else on this ship. It's not easy, I know, but right now its better this way.”

“Zoro wouldn't...”

“Dammit Sanji. I know  _ Zoro _ wouldn't hurt anyone, but we aren't dealing with just Zoro are we? He was laughing and joking when he walked from the deck and not ten minutes later, I have Usopp telling me he just witnessed him trying...” Luffy stopped. Guess he didn't like to say it either. The pained look on his face said more than words could anyways. He took a deep breath and let it out through his nose, his voice going back to something a bit more Luffy-like than pissed off Captain. “Let Chopper do his job. I need your head in the game while Zoro's out. We will think of something, don't worry. We always do.”

With that he turned and walked out. Chopper placed a hoof on my knee and I turned to him. His eyes were red and fur wet from where the tears had fallen. “I—I need you to lie back down again Sanji so I can take the X-rays.”

I did so wordlessly. I had so much going through my head right now anyways, but mostly the sting of what Luffy had said. He was right, Zoro, whether possessed or not had tried to...Ugh, I just can't say it. I swallowed and tried to focus on what Chopper was doing, but I really don't understand his medical stuff.

My eyes wandered over to Zoro's still form on the other bed. He was breathing quietly and Chopper had wrapped his hand and elevated it against his chest. Two small white strips covered the edge of his eyebrow from where the pan had connected. Were we loosing him? Were the Strawhats about to be down one swordsman? I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't let that happen. If it had been Luffy or Zoro in my place I knew they would do the same. This went beyond the feeling I had for that shitty fucker, this was about the crew, about our nakama. Luffy was right about that. I needed to figure out a way to defeat this, not only for Zoro but for every one of the Strawhats.

“Ow.” A sharp prick to my arm pulled me from my thoughts.

“Sorry. I just gave you a mild sedative. It will calm you down and help you sleep while I work. Don't worry, it works quickly, but only lasts a couple of hours. You should be awake around lunch.”

The world began to close in as I listened to Chopper's squeaky little voice. Sleeping meds? Is that what he just poked me with? The corners of my vision began to darken and I blinked heavily, my eyelids closing on their own. “Lunch...” I managed to say sleepily. “How am I supposed to cook lunch if you knock me out?”

I have no idea what Chopper said to me as I plummeted into the deep dark world of sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

It was bright. Not your normal bright, but a blinding white light that pierced the darkness of one's eye lids when closed. It made me blink and I raised a hand to shield my eyes as I searched for the source of this light so I could break it. It had been a few days since Zoro and I had  _ really _ gotten into a good fight and I was just itching to kick the shit out of something. Added stressers of the week aside.

As if hearing my thoughts, it dimmed down to something more reasonable and I lowered my hand slightly as I looked around. Everything was white, I think that was partly to blame for why everything was so bright. I looked down, my black suit and shoes a very stark contrast to my surroundings. But where was I? I don't remember there being a place like this on the Sunny. And when did I get there if there was? Wasn't I in the infirmary?  _ What the hell was going on? _

A rustle caused me to look over my shoulder and turn. There behind me sat a small fox-like creature. I say like for the simple fact it was a golden yellow with blue eyes and two tails. It sat, unblinking, as it stared at me. I don't know why I spoke. “Can I help you?”

It nodded. “We can help each other actually Sanji.”

“You know my name?”

“I know everything about you.” The little fox nodded and vanished.  _ What the fuck? _ I turned to see where it had gone to and was surprised to see that I had brought my hands up, the little guy sitting in my open palms. The shock caused me to almost drop it. “My name is Sud'dha.”

“Sud'dha?” The word sounded so weird on my tongue. “And you would be...?”

“You would know me as a Guardian Angel.”

“U-huh.”  I nodded slightly. “I must be dreaming.”

“Oh you are.” Sud'dha smiled, showing a mouthful of sharp white teeth. “Since you do not meditate this is the only way I can communicate with you. I tried the other day but you woke up. Chopper giving you the sedative has allowed for you to not wake and for me to speak with you.”

“And you need to do so why?” I raised an eyebrow at this. So now I had creepy little fox things in my dreams. Awesome! I need to know what Chopper put in that shot.

In answer the little guy jumped off my hands and as I scrambled to catch the suicidal nutcase, I watched as he grew larger and his form changed. He was still a fox, but the ends of the two tails became a deep dark blue, along with the socks on his legs and he grew to about my height. His black nose twitched as he smelt the air around us. “Because you asked me to, have you not?”

My hands clenched into fists at my sides. “I have not! Stop speaking in riddles and just tell me what the fuck you want? Who you are!”

“I am you.” He closed his eyes as I rolled mine. Looking back to him, I was shocked to come face to face with myself. Well not exactly, it was like looking at a yellow based version of myself. I jumped back and turned, ready to kick the crap out of this Sud'dha whatever it was. “I can take any form of you as I will. From past...” A small young me swirled into reality as he spoke. “Present.” Me again. As he said this, the scene shifted and suddenly we were standing in the small kitchen of the Merry. I spun once, shocked at the change in my surroundings. “Or future.” This image was distorted, but I could tell...I stood a little taller, shoulders a little broader.

“If you're me, why is this version blurry.”

“Because you still have the power to change it.” Came the simple reply as the blue and yellow fox appeared again. “Let me explain.”

“Well that would be a good thing.”

“There is more than you know to these Asuras. For starters, they are not born, they are made. Every Asura was once a Deva.”

“A Deva?” Okay, this was unexpected.

“Yes, let me finish.” The fox bowed his head quickly, then sat on its haunches, tails swishing across the floor of the kitchen. “Every human born is granted a Deva, Guardian Angel, if you will, to grow and mature with. To help the human through life. I am yours. I have been with you since you took your first breath and be will you till you take your last.”

“Oh good...” What the hell was this shit?

“It is good. We Deva can talk to one another. There is actually quite a variety on this ship! Even Chopper's deva...”

“Wait, you said human. Chopper's not human.”

“His deva decided that since he had eaten that fruit, he would make an exception. Not all of us are with a human. Some just roam the world.” Sud'dha sighed. “Are you quite through interrupting. For the one who claims to have manners, you are very rude.”

I stopped. Little fucker. “Yes, yes. Let's hear this.”

“You want to help your lover right? Zoro? Then this is why this is important. Right now Zoro has two Asura he is battling with.”

“Where's his Deva then?”

“His Deva is his Asura. Or well one of them is. That's what I was trying to explain. Everyone has a Deva and most stay quiet, only reacting when the human is in trouble. Others lend their strength, helping to develop fighting powers. As some grow older they slowly change to Asura. Not all Asura are all bad and Zoro's is not. Ever wonder why they called him the  _ Demon _ of East Blue?”

“Not really.” I crossed my arms. “So, Marimo corrupted his angel into a demon....some how that does not surprise me.”

“Not exactly. It is just how the two developed. Long ago Zoro was able to communicate with his Deva as we are now through meditating. They have an understanding of his goal and what it will take for him to become stronger. The two of us get to talk a lot thanks to your relationship.” This fox thing seemed to smile. “Zoro, himself, though doesn't quite understand what we are either. He doesn't believe in us, so his Deva had to approach him from a different angle. I don't know all the details myself, but it works for them.”

I sighed. Leave it to the moss head to mess up his own Deva. Okay, maybe I didn't need Chopper knocking me out anymore. I think I'm going crazy. “So let me get this straight. Every person born has this Deva. Some turn into Asura. And Zoro can talk to his? He never mentioned that before. And if he had one already, how did he get a second one?”

“That I don't know. I haven't been able to talk to his Asura for a while now. Plus we have all been busy helping to develop new fighting techniques.” The fox smiled, all proud of himself.

“Fighting?”

“Did you not just hear me say Devas can lend their strength to their human? How else do you think Zoro possesses super human strength and you can light yourself on fire?”

I shrugged. I guess I just thought the moss ball was stupidly strong. It made sense. Crappy neanderthal. “I don't know.” I answered. I had never really thought about  _ how _ I could do the Diablo Jambe. I just did it. “This is a lot to take in and really confusing. Devas. Asuras that aren't bad. Guardian Angels. I still don't understand how this is supposed to help anything.” My hands went to my hair. “So I have a creepy fox thing that helps me fight and watches over me. How is that any help to Zoro or getting rid of his Asura.”

“Not his,” Sud'dha corrected me. “The intruder. Her name is Andhera and she is just as nasty as she sounds. That is who you have been encountering and the rest of us have been trying to do what we can to stop her, but without Zoro's Asura, we won't ever stop her.”

“Andhera? That's her name?” My little weird fox thing blinked and nodded. “She's the Asura that's possessing the moss head?”

“Yes!”

“Sanji!” The new voice sounded quietly and we both turned to see a new animal enter the kitchen. It was almost transparent, but I could make out the form of a tiger, with that appeared to be green stripes. “Sanji!” The voice was louder and familiar.

“Is that a tiger?”

“Yes! That is Zoro's Asura!” Sud'dha jumped to his feet and ran towards the fading image. “If he is here, than he is growing stronger. Zoro is growing stronger! He's still fighting back!”

“Oi! Cook!”

I opened my eyes to come face to face with Zoro. His hand was on my shoulder, shaking it and I pushed his hand off me as a sharp pain ran through my side. “Stop it.”

“Good you're awake.” He sat heavily on the bed. “What the hell were you dreaming about?”

_ What was I dreaming about?  _ None of it made any sense. Animals that could talk and claimed to be angels. The only thing that had made sense was that this Asura of Zoro's was bad news. What was the name? “Does Andhera mean anything to you?”

“Andhera?” Zoro turned to me with a panicked look on his face, but it quickly lowered into one of anger. “Where did you hear that name?”

I felt groggy, like I really hadn't slept at all. I rubbed the back of my neck with a yawn. “The fox told me.”

“The fox?” Zoro's scowled deepened. “Whatever cook.”

“There was a tiger too.” I frowned. Ugh, I wish all this made more sense. Why did Zoro have to go and wake me up too? Wait...

Cautiously my hand reached out, finger tips just brushing against his cheek. Why was he awake? Didn't Luffy say to keep him out? No, Chopper said he needed to do something... “Zoro...”

“Hm?” He turned to look at me, his face calm now. “What?”

“Has—does Chopper know you are awake?” I paused. A part of me was screaming to stay away from him. Not four hours before this very moment he had tried to force himself on me. The rest of me, the side that knew better wanted to make sure he was okay.

“Naw.” He shook his head and leaned forwards against my hand, his own coming up and grasping mine. “I'm sorry I hit you.”

“I know.” It was a whisper as I watched him turn his head, his mouth pressed against my palm. The breath from his nose was warm and the side that wanted to run away was slowly raising the white flag in defeat. He kissed my palm once then pulled my arm forwards till our lips met.

An apology came with his movements. Long and slow, there was no hunger, no lust, just the simple pressing warmth of  _ 'forgive me. _ ' And of course I do. I always would because somewhere deep down I wanted everything to be okay. I wanted all of this to be behind us. For us to move on and go back to joking and arguing about how funny my name sounded with his.

It hurt. A lot, but I fought the pain to move my arm, wrap my hand in his shirt and pull him closer. I needed to touch him, feel his body against mine. Not at all because I was horny, I was just needy. Emotionally I could feel myself slipping after this morning and I needed my Marimo. My rock. The crew's anchor point and we were loosing him. The tears slipped unwanted and he pulled away, wiping them away with his thumb before pulling me against his chest. “You okay?”

“No I'm not okay!” I snapped. “Dammit shithead!” Ugh. Sometimes. I have been trying so hard the past couple days. And then this morning there had been a glimpse of our so called normal life back. Laughing and playing. Teasing each other and wresting. Just hanging out with the guys. Then the kitchen. I held my breath. Maybe if I didn't breathe, I wouldn't cry.

“It's okay.” I felt his voice through his chest as one hand slid through my hair. Damn him and his god damn compassion sometimes. Stupid shitty moss head. “I'm right here Sanji.”

That pissed me off and I pulled back, the sharp pain fueling my rage further. “Are you?! Half the time I don’t know if it's really you or not. Then the other half it's you to start and not you the next second! You said you could see what was happening when this shit occurs. Did you happen to witness this morning?”

Zoro blinked, a little shocked at my sudden outburst and mood swing. Fuck him. Shitty bastard. “This morning?”

With a huff, I flicked his eyebrow. He reeled back, hand moving to the spot, his fingers searching the white tape. “Yes,” I said angrily. “This morning.” Knees came up and I wrapped my arms around them, my head dropping down onto them.

“I remember punching you Sanji.” He said quietly.

“Nothing beyond that?”

“Just waking up here.” He frowned. “That bad huh?”

“My ribs are broken.” How did I tell him what had happened? I wasn't even sure I wanted to tell him what had happened. Wasn't sure I  _ could _ tell him. Swallowing took some effort.

Roronoa Zoro took a deep breath through his nose and stood up. “Sanji...” he started as I lied back against the bed, throwing an arm over my eyes. “Luffy's right.”

“I know, doesn't mean I have to like the idea. I will figure something out. We will all figure something out.” I didn't bother looking as I heard his boots thunk around the room for a moment. Nor did I bother to open them or move my arm when I felt his weight back on the bed. No, I only bothered to open them when I heard the  _ crunch _ and by then it was too late.

My eyes flew open at the sound. I heard bones breaking and felt an odd sensation through my chest and heart before the pain kicked in. A searing sharp pain like when I cut my thumb on that newly sharpened kitchen knife. I gasped, but blood... _ my blood?!... _ welled from my mouth.

Zoro! Zoro was still there on the bed, body unmoving as my vision blurred and I went from his form to what he was holding. The Wado Incimonji. The white sword. His beloved sword buried deep in my chest.

“Z—Zoro...why?” Somehow I managed those two words. Once again, hot tears ran unheeded down my cheeks. The life's blood.  _ My  _ life's blood was quickly draining and I was already feeling dizzy, a loud ringing in my ears. Was this what it felt like to be so close to death?

His gaze swung to me. His face lacking all emotion and his eyes dark and cold. A far off hatred pinpointed directly at me. “You're in my way cook.” His voice was dripping with malice and suddenly I was horrified. I tried to scream for Chopper, Luffy, anybody, but already my body was failing. I couldn't breathe. My arms and legs felt heavy and all I wanted to do was sleep. “You're getting to close to me and so I have to get rid of you  _ Sanji _ .” His lip curled in a vicious grin. Leaning forwards, his weight bared down on the weapon, driving it deeper, if possible, into my chest. Then the taunt came. “Who's the weaker one now cook?”

The katana twisted in his grasp and I heard myself scream.


	11. Chapter 11

I jolted upright, the end of the scream dieing on my lips. My whole body was shaking as I panted for air. Open palm slammed against my chest, over my heart, the beat so fast I felt like it was going to explode right then and there. I felt the bandages, knew Chopper had taken care of my ribs and I swallowed hard, trying to wet my mouth and throat, attempting to steady my breathing. A shaky exhale through my lips.

The room was dark, expect for the small window in the door. Another swallow as I lunged for the door, not caring about the pain in my ribs and exploded into the kitchen. I stumbled forwards, tripping over my own feet and the numbness of being drugged by the furry reindeer. I caught hold of the chair to steady myself and could feel and see my body shaking.

My galley was deserted. So either lunch was over or I didn't sleep as long as Chopper wanted. It didn't matter. My bare feet stumbled forwards towards the door, slapping heavily across the wood, and the lawn deck and I half ran, half jumped down the stairs using the railings for support. Damn those stupid drugs! I'm not ever gonna let Chopper give me a sedative again. I can't function. My body won't respond right. What if we were being attacked right now? I'm simply a huge liability.

“Sanji!” I heard Nami-swan yell at me as I fell to my knees on the grass deck. “What are you doing?!”

“I need to see.” It's the only thing I could put together. The only words I could manage to think of. My chest was still heaving, my heart still beating uncontrollably. I tried to stand again, but fell once more.

Franky's shadow loomed over me and dragged me to my feet. “Easy Bro.”

“No!” I pulled from his grasp and managed to stay standing, although I was shaking quite a bit still. I took a couple deep breaths, hoping to not only slow my breathing but calm my nerves. “I need...where?”

“You're not making any sense Sanji.” Nami-swan appeared in front of me, arms crossed. “What's going on? Are you okay?”

My eyes widened at that. My eyes flicked to the layer of white dressings across my heaving chest. Yes, yes I am actually okay! Well kind of okay. No, I’m not okay! I won't be okay until I know! “Where are they?”

“Where are what? God, look at how pale you are. Try to breathe. Where's Chopper? Chopper!” Nami yelled for the doctor, but I was already moving again. Up the forward stairs towards the lion's head. I saw Luffy stand up from his new “special seat” and jump down to intercept my path. His large grin dropped to a frown when he saw me.

“I need to see them.” I looked at him as he stood up in a recover from his jump.

I must have looked panicked. Hell I am panicking. He reached out a hand and grasped my shoulder. “Sanji.” He voice was quiet but firm. “Need to see what? What are you doing out here?”

I shouldered past him and wrapped my hand around the door knob to the girl's room. Never would I have thought I would be here. In this of all the places on the ship. The most off limits to us men. This was why it was the perfect spot. We had all agreed on it. Pushing the door open, I heard Nami yell to Luffy to stop me, but I was already darting inside.

There. Against the wall. Right where Chopper said he had put them. That damned cursed blade and the Wado Ichimonji. My legs gave out and I collapsed right there on the floor. I heard a small laugh bubble forth from my lips. A relieved, yet scared sound as my knees hit the carpet and I just stared at the two weapons. “Sanji!” Luffy and Chopper were on either side of me and I turned my head towards Luffy, not taking my eyes of the white hilt till I had too. I blinked and stared blankly at him. “Is this from what you gave him Chopper?”

“No,” the doctor was poking at me, pulling out one of his medical tools, pressing it against my chest. “His heart rate is way too fast. Sanji, you need to breathe slowly. You need to slow your heart rate. We need to get him back to the infirmary. Sanji with me...deep breath in...and out.”

“Right. Let's go Sanji.” I felt the hands on my shoulder and Luffy hauled me to my feet, pulling one of my arms over his shoulder. “What were you doing out here anyways?”

“I'm...I'm okay now.” Swallowing again, I felt a bit sturdier than I had just a moment ago. I had accomplished my goal. The moss ball's swords were still right where we had left them. It had been so real though. I could feel the pain, felt the rising panic as I lay dieing under him. Could feel the hate radiating off of him as he said I was too close. Too close to what?! Him?! Now would be a funny time to try to get rid of me. This dream, well nightmare, meant something. But what?

“You sure?” The grip Luffy had on my hand loosened as I nodded. My heart was starting to slow down and the anxiety starting to lessen. Chopper was peering up at me with his big eyes.

“How did you get out here? You should have woken slowly. I only left a little bit ago and both you and Zoro were asleep.”

“Did you give him the sedatives? Has he woken up yet? Is he okay?” My voice rose again. I was talking rapidly at the little guy.

“Yes, Sanji, to all of those. He doesn't seem to have a concussion and was not at all thrilled to hear the plan, but Luffy was there and...and...” He stopped, eyes darting to our captain.

“I told him what he did.” Luffy had his Captain's voice now as he let go of me. I teetered on my feet for just a moment, before I gained my footing and was able to stand on my own and we left the girls' room, Nami-swan angrily standing at the door, closing it behind us with a slam as we made out way down to the lawn deck. I looked over to him as I could feel the wave of tension roll off him. His voice was harsh, even for this. His and Usopp's fight comes to mind actually. “He wanted a reason as to why I was making this decision. I gave it to him.”

“What...what did he say?” I grew quiet. Luffy's voice was sobering. The situation was getting as dire as his voice. But, still, it wasn't something I had planned on telling him. Zoro didn't need that on his shoulders as well, not right now. Maybe once all this had been dealt with and things had returned to normal.

“Not a lot. I told him as Chopper was giving it too him.” He turned from me then, walking back up the stairs quietly and disappearing to our lion's head.

Robin-chan and Usopp had appeared on the deck as well by this point, hearing the commotion I was causing. They both looked at me, Usopp with his typical wild stare, somewhere between worry and terror. Robin-chan had a very unsettling frown on her lovely features, a small book in her hand.

For some reason all this unnerved me greatly. “I will start lunch. Let me get a shirt.” And I turned heel and quickly made my way to the bunk room, slamming the door behind me. My head fell against the door with a thunk as I leaned back against it. I knew everyone was just trying to help and was just as concerned for Zoro as I was, but just seeing them all standing there got to me. My nerves were still on edge from that crazy fucked up dream.

Why would I even dream of a Zoro that wanted to kill me? Was I loosing my mind or was it Chopper's drugs he gave me? And Sud'dha? What was that about? The Asura was real, we had proof of that, but these Guardian Angel Deva things...

I picked up the first shirt of mine I came across. A new one Nami-swan had gotten me in Water 7, and as I pulled it over my head, my eyes landed on the wanted posters. This just pissed me off. Everyone else had legitimate photos. Luffy with that damned grin. Zoro, a bleeding mess. A kinda hot bleeding mess, but a mess just the same. Usopp's, although I would never tell him, was just fucking awesome. Bad ass fucking picture. Franky and Chopper as well.

I could feel my skin crawl at the horribly hand drawn picture of myself we had come across before with the rest of them. Zoro still gave me shit about it. My starting bounty was higher than his though, so I had that much. Then my eyes fell to the book on the table. The one Robin-chan had lent me the night before. The one I had meant to read before bed.

Picking it up, I scratched at my bite mark. Chopper said itching meant healing and healing was what the little doctor was always after. It was a small book, smaller than the one about Asuras, a worn leather binding with not indication of it's contents. Something said to bring it with me and so I turned, quietly leaving the bunk room to make my remaining nakama their lunch.

All of them had vanished from the deck in the short time I was in grabbing my shirt and I quietly walked to the galley to make a typical lunch for us. With all the salt I had gathered from the rooftops, I had packed some fish in it and decided now would be a good time to test it out. That combined with some white rice enhanced with thyme and a nice leafy salad would be perfect.

With a sigh I set my knife down. “What's wrong cook-san?” This made me jump. I hadn't realized Robin-chan had even entered the room. “I'm sorry to have startled you. I came for some coffee and saw the book I loaned you on the table. Have you read it yet?” She poured her coffee as she spoke, then turned to me, as she leaned on the counter, the cup near her lips. “Then you sighed.”

With a frown, I motioned to the food laying around us. “I was sighing at lunch.”

“What's wrong with it?” A sip of coffee and a smile. She already damn well knew what was wrong with it. Just wanted me to say it.

Picking up the knife, I cut roughly into a tomato. “Zoro.” There is no need to say more to her. Unconsciously I had created one of the moss head's favorite meals. He would never say so, but we all knew. It wasn't that hard to tell. Luffy always asked:  _ 'What's for lunch? _ ' And when I would mention anything that had to do with rice or fish, Zoro was second to the table, first after Luffy.

Robin-chan moved silently and gracefully to the other side of the counter, picking up the book along the way. Sitting, she placed her cup on the counter. “Navigator-san said you stormed into our room this morning. Care to explain why?”

I shrugged and tried to concentrate of the pieces of fruit under my fingers. “I needed to know that the swords were still there.”

“And why would you need to know that? You could have just asked us.”

I set my knife down again, placing both hands on the counter and looked over to my interrogator. “Robin-chan. I needed to see them. I needed to know they were still there. I had a horrible nightmare while I was out and it involved them.”

She raised an elegant eyebrow at this explanation. “Care to explain further?”

“I had this really weird dream about something called a Deva. Some weird fox like thing was talking to me, trying to explain to me that it was a part of who I am and that we all have one.”

“Yes. You have not read that book yet have you?”

“No, I have not had a moment yet.” I started on a second tomato with a shake of my head. “I take it I’m not as crazy as I would like to think.”

“That book explains many theories on Asuras and Devas, the good side of this problem, if you will. One of them sounds similar to what you are describing. Go on, please.”

“It said that Zoro's Deva was actually an Asura, but that a stronger one kinda just came by and took over. That's what we have been dealing with. I don't know. We didn't have much time to talk before I was woken up.”

“Woken up?” A delicate hand came up to her chin. “That doesn't sound like much of a nightmare.”

“That's just it. I was still dreaming.” Having completed chopping both tomatoes, I dumped them into my salad bowl and grabbed the cucumbers out of the strainer in the sink. “I 'woke' to Zoro in the infirmary. We talked for a minute or two then he tried to kill me.”

“Oh my. That does sound quite horrible and painful.”

“It was. I could feel it. I—I couldn't stop it in my dream but as soon as I woke I needed to see them. Well I needed to see the white one. That's the one he used.” I was back to trying to focus on my slicing. “He always draws that one last. It's the most precious of them and it was the one he used in my dream.”

“How interesting.” She gave a small giggle. It really wasn't funny. She can be so morbid at times. “Did he say anything to you?”

“Yeah. He told me Luffy was right.” I paused mid-slice and looked at Robin-chan. There would have been no way for me to know that Zoro knew about our plans to keep him knocked out. He had been unconscious when Chopper sedated me. “Wait...”

“What is it?”

“He told me I was in the way. That I was getting too close to him and he needed to get rid of me.” I blinked as it dawned on me. “Is there anything in that book that talks about these Devas and Asuras being able to move between people. The one...ugh, mine, said that he and the others on the ship talked occasionally. Is it possible for them to talk to the other people?”

“What do you mean?”

“Right before Zoro woke me up, a second animal appeared in my dream. The little fox got all excited and said that it belonged to Zoro...but I don't think even with how much we fight, Zoro would ever actually want to kill me. Is it possible that it was this Asura that was in my dream. That is assuming they really can drift from person to person.”

“So you believe that while you were talking to yours, Zoro's pulled you out and into it's own dream reality and tried to kill you?”

“Oh, it nearly succeeded.” I gave a sharp nod and my hand rubbed across my chest again.

“Interesting theory you have cook-san.”

I shook my head. “It wasn't Zoro's though. Well it was, but it was the mean one. The one we have been seeing. If I really am not going crazy, which I think somewhere I am, Robin-chan, than there is a battle that damned moss head may not even be aware of. I think maybe this Asura came in to try and stop my Deva from talking to me, but Zoro's Deva, Asura, whatever got in the way.”

“Why do you suggest that?” Robin-chan opened the book as she spoke, flipping pages. I dumped the cucumbers into the bowl and turned for a few carrots.

“The fox said that it was Zoro's Asura. The real one and ran off to greet it.”

“Your Deva?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, here it is.” Robin-chan stopped on a page and cleared her throat, reading: “There have been a few people known who not only seem to be able to communicate with their Deva, but also with others around them. The Deva seem to form bonds the same as the people. These people claim that the Deva work as a team along side their human counterparts, both separately and as a group.”

“So I'm not crazy.”

“I would say not cook-san.” Robin-chan set the book back down on the counter and picked up her coffee. “I believe that because of the circumstances of yours and the swordsman's relationship, his Asura may very well have tried to contact you. It may be a wise choice to find a better way to communicate with this fox you have. I am quite sure you do not want doctor-san to have to sedate you every time you wish to speak.”

I frowned at this. “No, that I do not.” The carrots went into the bowl, the knife and cutting board went to the sink edge and the bowl went to the table. I dropped it kind of roughly in the center of the table and walked to the door to call everyone for lunch.

As the crew filed in, well ran, let's be honest here, I stayed by the door, reminding myself that I didn't have to go chase down a lost Marimo. This caused an annoyed huff as I went to close the door, but thought better of it.

“Where are you going Sanji?!” Luffy asked as he shoved more food into his mouth. “Come eat, this is great!”

“I'm not all that hungry right now.” Mumbling, I picked up my pack of smokes and left the kitchen. I found myself up in the crows nest and numbly fumbled for a cigarette as I took a deep breath through my nose. There was sweat and metal and the sea and all the things that reminded me of the one person I couldn't be around right now.

Dropping to the seats along the wall, I exhaled with a smirk. I always did it, but he hated when I smoked up here. This was his space, he claimed, and I didn't see him lifting weights in the kitchen. Not like he could get most of them in the room anyways. I toed a small hand weight that lay near by, getting it to roll across the floor and out of my reach. Then I got an idea.

I had tried to do this once before, but it had ended badly, Zoro interrupting me. Moss ball wasn't hear to get in my way this time! I quickly made my way to the bunk room, got my sweat pants and made my way back to the crows nest. Everyone would be finishing lunch soon, which meant I wouldn't be able to do this on the deck. And with Zoro out cold in the infirmary, this was a much better location.

Kicking the weight aside, I stood in the center of the room and took a deep breath. Really, it had been a long time since I had been able to peacefully do my yoga. And I always got a lot of thinking done while I did it. And right now, I really needed to think.


	12. Chapter 12

It was weird to lay on this floor without a head of green hair to talk to or pick on or argue with or make up with. With a sigh, I rolled to my back and lit a cigarette. The irony of the situation got to me as I exhaled a cloud of smoke into the open and empty room. He was just across the ship, but it felt like he was so far away. Stupid shitty bastard. Why did he have to go and get possessed by something. Wasn't his own Asura enough? The rest of the crew, whether aware of it or not, seemed perfectly content to get stronger on their own. They didn't go seeking out ways to get stronger.

Yet none of us were Roronoa Zoro either. His need to get stronger seemed to surpass the rest of us at times.

I looked down my nose to the red and glowing tip of my smoke as I sucked on it some more. This was probably the first time in a while I had actually smoked a whole cigarette, usually it went forgotten, hanging between my lips as I did some other task. Plucking the half smoked stick from my mouth, I held it up in my hand for a moment, before sitting up and snuffing it on the bottom of my shoe nearby. Okay, so this one wasn't going to be one either.

Rolling over again, I hopped up onto my arms, then hands and with a few slow deep breaths, brought my legs up into a handstand. For a moment I half expected hands to slid across my hips and knock me over as had happened so many times before, but I knew that this time it wasn't going to happen and with a frown, lowered my legs into a split.

What were we going to do about Zoro and this Andhera? I could only assume that tiger I saw was the actual Asura of Zoro's. It made perfect sense. My wrist gave out and I fell to my side, pain shooting up and down that side of my body and I curled in on myself for a moment. Okay maybe this wasn't a good idea. Guess my body isn’t as healed as I like to pretend. My ribs would take some time anyways. Taking a few deep breaths, I lay there till the roaring pain dulled down a bit.

Shrugging, I ventured towards a different approach. One that I had never actually tried, but Zoro had assured me would be better and more beneficial than doing my yoga. He had said this with a smirk as he had been trying to rip clothing off, but at that time it had gone in one ear and out the other. Now, though, since I couldn't really do this as long as my wrist wasn't able to fully support my weight, I could give it a shot.

'Stretch, breathe, relax and focus.' Zoro's words came back as I sat up and adapted a similar position to the one the moss head used during his meditations. He had cracked an eye open that one afternoon and said simply: 'You should do this with me. It will let us connect on a completely different level.'

I had waved him off, commenting on needing to make dinner or some other lame excuse, but now found myself mimicking his breathing patterns I had grown so used to hearing and trying to focus on nothing more than talking to Sud'dha. Could this actually work? I always figured Zoro had used meditation as an excuse to get out of doing things around the ship. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and shut out as much as I could.

The yelling of Luffy and Chopper on the deck faded away, along with the even more distant clamber of Franky and Usopp below the decks. The ladies never made a sound anyways. Instead I focused on keeping my breaths deep and slow, the sounds of the waves against the ship lulling me as well. Soon even that drifted away and I was left in silence.

I fell; its the only way I know how to describe it. Plummeted down into the depths of some place I didn't recognize, swirling black and gray. My breath hitched and I had to force myself to remain breathing and contain the slight panic that rose up. There was no way I had left the crows nest as I could still feel the surface I was sitting on. Is this where the moss ball ran off too when you could stand there and poke him without a reaction?

Behind me a light flared, dancing around the darkness like a fire's flame and I turned my head towards it. I had done it, there was Sud'dha. His tails wagging against the ground, his whole body seemingly on fire. Standing, his blue socked feet left little fiery footprints as he padded quietly towards me. “Sanji!” I swear he smiled. “You are here. You must have figured out another way.”

“Why is 'here' black?” Ironically this is what confused me most. Not the fact I was meditating, which I normally laughed at Zoro about or the fact that I had a flaming fox sitting at my feet. “Where are we?”

“This is the plane we normally are on. That place we were last time was inside your mind. Here we are on the ship, for easy explanation. Here we are not confined to what you are only aware of, but what the others are as well.”

“Others?” Sud'dha simply nodded. “Like the other Deva. And the other Asura.” I frowned at this. “What's not to stop Andhera from coming here if she can get inside my head in the infirmary? That was her wasn't it?”

“It was because you were not in control of yourself.”

“I was.” I crossed my arms and then uncrossed them, shifting for a cigarette. Could I even smoke here? Was I really smoking? Ugh, this is so weird.

“You were not. Chopper had given you medication to knock you out. I am always aware and come and go as I please whether you are conscious or not. Being forced into an unconscious state gives others the chance to enter your mind. As did Dagi, if you remember.”

“Who?” Well real or not, I could feel the nicotine course through my body and replaced my lighter.

“Dagi. Zoro's Asura.”

“Ah, yes,” I rolled my eyes. “Because of course I would know the tiger's name was Dagi.” Sighing, I looked around the empty hidden plane on the ship. “So where is everyone if we are on the ship?”

“Coming and going as they please.” I  _ really _ hated the way this guy talked in riddles. The sharp canine teeth poked through his smile and he laughed. “Honestly Sanji, if that wasn't obvious.”

My arms shot to my sides and I clenched my hands into fists as I snapped at the little guy. “Do you really think this is easy for me?! In the matter of a week, I find out my boyfriend's possessed, get attacked by said possessed moss ball several times, get knocked out by my doctor and discover that not only do I have some weird creepy little fox...thing floating around in my head, we all got one on the ship! Oh and then I get attacked in my dreams by the stupid marimo.” Waving my arms about as I spoke, I didn't even take notice of the blank expression the little fox wore.

My chest heaving, his tails flicked to the side. “Are you quite done?” He asked, his voice monotone and his eyes narrowed. He blinked calmly as I caught my breath and shoved my cigarette back in my mouth with a sharp nod. “Feel better?”

I looked off to the side, refusing to look at him. “Maybe.”

“This is a lot to take in in such a short time. But you even being here now, as I stated, means that we can also converse with the others and come up with a plan to stop Andhera. I know I miss Dagi. I can only imagine how you must miss Zoro.”

“But...” This caused me to turn and I kneeled down to come closer to Sud'dha. “You said that was him this morning.”

“That was the first time I have seen him in almost a month. None of us thought much about it at first, like his counter part, Dagi didn't spend as much time with the rest of us. Slowly we began to realize something was wrong, around the same time you started to notice something was wrong with Zoro. This last week or so has been the worse.”

“Yeah tell me about it.” My shoulders dropped. “So what do we do?”

Sud'dha laid down in front of me, placing his head down across his front paws. The ears fell back and the little guy seemed very sad all of a sudden. “I'm not entirely sure. This will most likely require the help of everyone on the ship.”

“You mean both the human and Deva sides I take it.” I took another drag off my cigarette, careful not to blow the smoke towards the critter I was bonded with. Some how I was becoming quickly okay with the fact that this little guy was real. He nodded and I sat back, dropping to my ass on the black floor. “That's gonna be hard. You can't get Luffy to sit still for more than thirty seconds and Zoro, well...”

“He needs to be awake for this. Some how you need to explain to Chopper and the rest that he cannot be sedated any longer.”

“It's only been a couple hours though.” I frowned. “I highly doubt Luffy will just let him back about the ship, especially after this morning.” I rubbed at my temples. This was an overload. Too much for my sleep deprived brain to fully comprehend. Between the events of this morning, the now constant dull throbbing in my side and the pet Deva I possessed, my mind was simply screaming  _ I need a break here! _

“Talk to them.” Sud'dha watched me then spoke quietly, seeming to know I had a ton on my mind. Well of course he did. “See what they say. Robin can help as I assume you already are aware.”

“This Andhera will know everything about the moss ball correct?” The little fox just nodded. “Then how do we fight a sword user with out the swordsman? Luffy can't do much. This thing will know all my moves.”

“It will take all of us. That's why it's so vital that everyone is there.” He let out a growl of irritation. I jumped back a little, not really expecting that from him. Of course I really didn't know what to expect in general from him. “Zoro is vital to this as well as it is  _ his _ Asura, whether he really wanted her or not. He is the one who needs to end this.”

“Oh, well then, I will just let Luffy know that.  _ Say, Captain, we need to let the crazy psychopath up now so he can join the rest of us on some insane meditative adventure because the little fox in my head said so _ . Don't think it will go over so well.”

“Ugh,” Sud'dha sighed and stood back up, whipping his tails about. “You are so pig headed. I will talk to Jina. Maybe she can help talk some sense into the rest of the crew.”

“Jina?” I scrunched up my nose at the name. Must have been one of the other other Devas. Sud'dha turned and walked away from me mumbling still about how stubborn the whole Strawhat crew was. He was kinda right there, Luffy really didn't take no for an answer and neither did the rest of us. “So, what? That's it for now? So glad I decided to come talk to you.”

“You forget Sanji,” the little guy didn't even bother to turn around as he spoke, just kept walking, slowly fading into the black nothingness that surrounded us. “I already know you're a jerk.” And he was gone.

Opening my eyes, I blinked, trying to focus my eyes again to the crows nest. Little fucker was pretty rude. With a sigh, I lied back on the floor once more, crossing one leg over my pulled up knee. How was I going to even bring this up to the rest of the crew, let alone convince them that we all needed to do this? I was giving myself a headache.

Then my stomach growled. Oh yeah, I hadn't eaten since breakfast. That still seemed so long ago. Had it really only been just a few hours? Everything seemed to move so fast all of a sudden. Carefully I got up and as I made my way down the ladder towards the deck, I heard Chopper's high pitched call of my name. I had been caught. “What are you doing?! Climbing will only make it worse! You broke ribs Sanji!”

_ I _ didn't break anything I wanted to tell him, but I bit my lip. He waited, arms crossed at the bottom of the mast as I slowly climbed down. I couldn't have gone any faster if I had even wanted to. My side hurt too much now. Probably all the stress of not listening to the reindeer. Walking past him, he followed me to the kitchen, where with a heavy sigh, I discovered the remains of the whirlwind that had been lunch. “Chopper...” I said quietly as I picked up an empty plate, stacking it on a second, then a third. Dishes needed to be done now that lunch was over. I would eat after that, I suppose. The little doctor scrabbled into a chair and waited for me to finish. “Can you reverse the effects of the sedative?”

“Well, yeah, but Luffy said...”

“I know what Luffy said.” I was trying to keep calm and was having a hard time of it. The monotone I was trying to use kept cracking. “I have reason to believe that we need him awake. It has to do with this Asura thing that is possessing him. You're gonna think I'm crazy...” And I delved into the whole story. Thankfully Robin-chan's book was still on the counter and I showed what we had found to him. Being an animal by nature, he was a bit more aware and sensitive to things like this and after a few minutes of reading and explanation, he quickly seemed to agree with me. This I was thankful for. If anyone could convince Luffy to let the moss ball up, Chopper and his medical terminology could.

I handed him a dish as we stood talking and washing. “We all have one? Even me?” He had asked this once before, but it seemed a little unreal to him I think. “What does it look like?”

“I don't know that. I mostly just know what mine looks like. Caught a glimpse of the Marimo's.” I shrugged. “I'm sure we will all find out if we can convince the rest of the crew to do this.”

And we continued on. We both agreed that once Zoro was awake, he would most likely not agree to this, but we also agreed that we could just threaten to sedate him again until further notice. So we marked him in our mental checklist as on board for this insanity. Chopper and I also agreed that Robin would pretty easily be willing to help, given the facts that she seemed to know more about this than the rest of us. Usopp would be willing to try. He had come around to this whole thing the last few days and if it hadn't been for him this morning, well...I am trying not to think about it.

Nami and Luffy were a different case. The captain was not going to be pleased to hear we wanted to revive the moss ball. Nami usually rolled her eyes and wandered off whenever anything “supernatural” came to the table. I did as well, but honestly, was quickly changing my opinion. Franky, being the newest Strawhat was still a bit of a mystery. Who knew what he would say?

Chopper ran off to call a meeting as I put the last of the clean dishes away and opened the frig to see what I could piece together for lunch. Mostly there was the fruit I had decided to use for the ladies' afternoon drink. There was no way I could eat that. With a frown, I fumbled around. I could always throw a sandwich together or some other really simple thing. Reaching in deep towards the back, I pulled out a small container with Luffy's crude handwriting on it. 'My meat.' it said. Oh brother, what the hell was in here?

Popping the top, I discovered the last remaining bits of the seaking we had for dinner over a week ago. How that had managed to even make it past the first night, I will never know. And the smell, man, I am not one for wasting food, but I closed the lid and just chucked it. There was no way. Ugh.

The crew filed in as I was finishing up the sandwich I was making and they all sat quietly as I took a few bites before Luffy crossed his arms. “What do you want Sanji?”

I swallowed, thankful that I actually had food to swallow and wasn't just doing so because I still seemed to be on Luffy's bad side at the moment. “We need to wake Zoro up.”

“No.”

“Let me explain Luffy.”

“I said 'no', Sanji. Is this why you brought us in here? To start a full on riot on my ship?”

“Well no,” I paused and saw the nervous glaces of Chopper as he looked from Luffy to me and back to the annoyed captain. “I would never--”

“Luffy,” Chopper cut me off. And I was grateful. I took another bite of my late lunch as the doctor explained. “We have reason to believe that we can help Zoro, but we need him to be awake for it. We need his help. Well actually we need the whole crew's help.”

“So, you agree with Sanji Chopper?” Luffy snapped his head from me to the reindeer.

The little guy jumped in his chair, but nodded. “I think Sanji may be on to something that could help.” He held up the little book on Devas and quietly began explaining. “You see, this Asura is what is possessing him.”

“Yeah.” Luffy knew this. We all knew this. He just had to make a comment.

“But there are also things called Devas. They are like the good side to this. From what Sanji and this book explain, we all have one, even me!” The little doctor smiled, but hurriedly continued on at the lowered eyebrows of an annoyed rubber captain. “So...so, what Sanji says is that we can communicate with these Devas and use them to help us get rid of Zoro's.”

“He's quite right.” Robin-chan spoke up, taking the book from Chopper. Flipping to what I can only assume was the same page she was on before, she looked at it as she spoke. “There have been cases where people have been able to communicate and interact with the Deva, Guardian Angels, if you will. This is where cook-san is going with this, I believe.” She glanced in my direction, along with Luffy and everyone else.

I sighed. “You are all going to think I'm nuts.” I sighed and walked around the counter, dropping into one of the empty chairs and lighting a cigarette. They all waited patiently for me to carry our my little addict ritual and I spoke as I exhaled. “Before my little outburst this morning of running into your room ladies, forgive me for that,” Nami-swan made some little noise and turned her head away, Robin-chan simply smiled. “I had a dream where this weird little fox claiming to be what is called a Deva, came to me and told me that we all needed to work together to get this Asura away from Zoro.”

“It also told me,” I continued, pulling a second drag and leaning back in my chair. “That every person has one of these Devas. Some people's turn into Asura, like Marimo's did.” Luffy went to open his mouth, but I raised a hand. “Luffy, please,” He shut his jaw with a snap of his teeth and dropped lower in his chair. “They adapt and grow with the person they are with. Zoro has an Asura, but its not the same one that's causing the trouble. His Asura is a good one, I guess. I'm really not even fully sure. These Devas are also responsible for helping everyone get stronger, adapting new techniques we can use while fighting. As it was bluntly explained to me, that's why Zoro is so stupidly strong and why I can do the Diablo Jambe.”

“So, what your saying is that you expect us to believe that we each have some little critter running around our heads we can't see that helps us fight?” Franky shook his head. “This is so weird.”

This coming from the cyborg at the table. “Yes.” I said simply and Robin-chan agreed.

“I believe that cook-san, now having found this connection, is on to something that we can all use together to help swordsman-san.”

“Can it be any animal?” Luffy was surprisingly quiet as he stared at some spot on the table. His arms were now crossed, but he was still slumped forwards in his chair. “Sanji?”

I shrugged. “As far as I know. It was a two-tailed fox that came to me. And I think I saw Zoro's. Its a tiger.” It was quiet as I took another drag of my cigarette.

“I think...” Luffy paused, as if to gather his words. He was surprisingly mature all of a sudden. “I think I believe you Sanji.” He looked over to me, his face void of expression, but his eyes held one I couldn't quite put my finger on. “I have had this dream before where I would be playing with a huge monkey. He would be wearing my hat. I never thought much of it since it's my name and all, but when you describe it and explain it the way you have. It makes complete sense to me.” His eye brows lowered and his head whipped around. “Chopper.”

“Y—yes Luffy?”

“Wake him up.”


	13. Chapter 13

Zoro woke growling and snarling, demanding Luffy explain to him exactly: "Just what in the  _ fuck _ he was talking about?!" His vision swung wildly around the room as he tried to focus, landing on Chopper for a moment. His head bent towards the reindeer in a heated glare, but Chopper seemed not to worry. Then he seemed to realize I was standing there and his whole demeanor changed dramatically.

His eyes narrowed, the lip quivered and he burst into tears throwing the blanket over his head and pulling his knees into his chest. Random strands of green hair stuck up like grass through the thin material as he openly sobbed underneath it.

"Uuhh..." Raising an eyebrow, I turned towards the doctor, who was writing something in one of his books. "What's this about?" I waved a hand in a simple gesture at the general direction of the shaking blanket on the bed. Chopper seemed un-phased by the unheard of display by Zoro not two feet from him.

"Its quite normal actually. Everyone reacts differently to the reverse effects of the sedatives. You do one of two things actually. Either you freak out and let stupidity take over like you did this morning; trying to force your body to move before it's ready. Or you go into a survival mode and try to eat me. This you did on Drum Island after your back surgery. Zoro? Zoro gets emotional. It's really weird, I know, but, again, I assure you Sanji, quite normal." He never looked up as he spoke, only glancing sidelong at the swordsman's erratic display as he finished, then jotting down something in his book. "He should be fine in maybe an hour. Usually he comes around quickly. Most likely he won't remember some of this as well."

There was a sniffle from under the blanket, then he threw it up, pulling the end near his feet up so we could see his face. The moss ball moved and shifted for a minute, rearranging the blanket so it was around his back and over his head, keeping the opening bunched in front of him with his hands. Only his face peeked out of the thing material. The extra pooled in the lap of his now crossed legged. "Chopper." Zoro whined. Roronoa fucking  _ Zoro _ whined! I was in dead shock. Couldn't even think of some rude comment, some snide joke. I just stood there open mouthed as the doctor calmly asked what he needed. "A drink?"

"No, Zoro, you ask me that whenever this happens. Not for a little while. I need to make sure you don't choke on anything if you throw up."

"I won't throw up Chopper. I never have before."

"That's because I don't give you anything Zoro." The little reindeer sighed and turned in his chair. "I need to go for right now Zoro, but Sanji's gonna stay. Okay?" He shook his head rapidly, but didn't say anything. "Yes. Everyone is having a meeting I need to go to. Sanji will be here if you need something. No food or water though." He quickly added as the swordsman perked up at the 'need something' comment.

He frowned, shoulders drooping and he pulled the blanket tighter around himself, shivering slightly. "I'm cold."

"I can get you another blanket," I spoke up as Chopper ducked out the door. Opening the cabinet I pulled out a second, thicker blanket and opened it, throwing it over Zoro's shoulders, then sitting on the edge of the bed in front of him. Quietly he mumbled a thanks as he pulled it tighter around himself and finally looked at me. His eyes searched my face and he bit his lip, most likely to keep from crying again.

God this is so weird. His eyes were wide and dilated, obscuring most of the green iris with the dark depth of black from his pupils. The rings around his eyes were puffy from his crying and his face still seemed a little thin from not eating those couple days. A laugh escaped. I couldn't help it! Zoro's eyes widened even more if possible, then narrowed dramatically, eyebrows lowered. "I'm sorry." Taking a deep breath, I continued. "You just look like shit."

"Thanks." The marimo frowned, looking away. I could tell he wanted to ask something, but he seemed worried about the answer to it. "Sanji..." his eyes flicked back to mine and I waited. Taking a breath, Zoro licked his lips. "Did I...I mean, what Luffy said..."

"It's a complicated answer." I replied calmly. And true enough it was. "I have a question for you actually." Slowly I held out my hand to him, palm up and fingers open, in hopes he would take it. I just wanted to touch him, but with him being a random roller coaster of drug induced emotions, I wasn't sure he would.

Cautiously he unfurled a hand, fingers outstretched, as if he feared what would happen if he did. Once his hand hovered over mine, I forced the contact, grabbing his hand and locking my fingers around it. Zoro simply let out a startled grunt and we carried on. "What is it cook?"

"I think I understand a bit more now. Have you heard of what's called a Deva?" He nodded. "It's...who you deal with while meditating?"

"Not anymore." He said calmly. "Not recently. I thought they were all the same. But I guess not."

"The Asura? I know about her. She's not yours."

He gave me this look like I was crazy. I still think I am honestly. He sat back slowly, but stopped as I refused to let go of him. "How'd you know it was female?"

"And human. Unlike the other one which I have been told is a tiger."

"Yeah..." he shook his head. "Okay, wait Sanji. How the hell do you know that and why all of a sudden do you believe me?"

“I'm not sure I do honestly. This morning, Chopper gave me some sedatives as well. You...” I stopped. No, Zoro hadn't actually broken my ribs, it was this Asura. This Andhera. Quickly I reworded what I wanted to say. “Do you remember anything from this morning?”

His free hand went to his hair and I could see him pulling at it like he would when frustrated. He closed his eyes and shook his head, looking down to his lap. “I—I don't know. It's all fuzzy.” I could see the tears in the corners of his eyes as he looked up at me again. The lip was still shaking, but he had it pulled into his mouth, showing just the edges of his front teeth from where he was biting it, trying anything he could to have some sort of control. Then the eyebrows lowered and the nonexistent grip in my hand tightened almost painfully. I sucked in a breath, but it went unnoticed. “Sanji. What Luffy said...did I really try to force myself on you?” It was my turn to drop my head to my lap. I really didn't want to do this right now. He tugged my arm forwards sharply, growling the whole time. “Answer me.”

“...Yes.” I said quietly. “But Usopp came in. You didn't do anything. It's how you got this.” Cautiously I reached up and lightly touched his butterfly stitches over his eyebrow. “And how I got this.” I pulled back, lifting my shirt, revealing the bandages and large bruise. “Chopper says a couple of my ribs are broken.”

Zoro's eyes just widened and then he turned his head away in self disgust. “Fuck cook.” He breathed out quietly. “I keep telling you to stay away from me. Why won't you listen to me?”

“Because you're nakama you fucking stupid Marimo. Because everyone is worried about you. Because you're a stubborn bastard. And...because I love you.” I don't know why I said it. Seemed like the right thing to say. Maybe there were no other reasons besides those. “I'm not just going to sit by and watch this destroy you. Pretty sure I have said that once already. This conversation seems very repetitive with you. I'm not just going to give up or give in. Not now. Not after this morning. If you would just let me talk for a minute you might learn something.”

“I know what I'm capable of doing. I can kill you.” His voice was suddenly very firm as he spoke. Then he sighed, the grip on his hair relaxing slightly. “I wouldn't be able to handle that.”

“Zoro look at me.” I let go of his hand and grabbed his chin, forcing his face to turn. “I can kill you too. Pretty easily. Hell I almost did a few days ago. I understand the pain it would cause you, I do. It took everything I had to not break your neck the other day. I also have a better understanding of these Devas and Asuras. You aren't the only one who has one.”

“What do you mean cook?” He pulled his chin from my grip, but didn't turn away again. Instead he stared back, eyebrows lowered. My hand stayed suspended in the air a second before I dropped it back to the bed. “I'm pretty sure I'm the only one around here dealing with this shit.”

“Yeah, you are the only one dealing with two and being a complete jerk, but from what I learned this morning, you are not the only one to possess these deities.” He gave me a skeptical look with a frown, but I continued on. “As it was explained to me: Ever wonder how I can light myself on fire?”

He shrugged. “Not really.”

“Me either. Anyways. Chopper drugged me cause I was being quite unreasonable and while out I had this dream...well, two dreams, but we are not going there. This little fox guy named Sud'dha appeared and told me he was  _ my _ Deva and that partly because of him I was as strong as I am. That everyone has one of these Devas. Only sometimes as they grow, the Devas become Asuras.”

“Like me?”

“Like you. But it's not what you think. This Andhera isn't your Asura, which I'm sure you are aware of. She is the one your stupid moss brain called when you decided you needed to get stronger.”

“It worked.”

“At what cost Marimo? Look at us. What are we doing? Sitting in the infirmary discussing crazy shit covered in bruises from attacking each other. Ah, don't even say 'hows that different than normal?' You know what I mean.” He closed his mouth with a snap. I sighed. “Luffy and the others are all meeting right now and Robin-chan is going over what her and I have learned from her books. We all spoke a little bit ago about these and its starting to become clearer that not only do we all seem to have one of these things inside us, that they are all connected same as we all are and all of us, human and Deva alike, need to band together to fix this.”

“You mean my mistake?” Zoro angrily pulled the blanket off his head to his shoulders.

“You told me you would let us help. Why can't you just stick to one decision?”

Zoro just grunted at me. What was I supposed to do with that? Crossing his arms, he took a breath. “Che. And how are we going to do this?”

“That's part of what they are discussing. It's easy for you to get to that plane through your meditating. I was able to get there earlier, but I’m not really good at that sort of thing. As for the others...Luffy won't be able to sit still long enough I don't think.”

“You actually tried meditating cook?”

“Yeah.” I rubbed the back of my neck.

His eyes seemed to light up a bit at that remark. He leaned forwards with a quick kiss to the cheek. “What'd you see? Where were you?”

Raising my eyebrows in confusion, I tilted me head. “The ship. Well I assume it was the ship. Everything was black. Unlike my dream where it was white.”

Zoro threw the blanket off himself and jumped up, grabbing my hand. “Come on. We gotta go talk to the others!”

“Whoa, whoa.” I leaned back as he pulled me to my feet and used my free hand to wave him down. “Chopper said to sit here and let this play out. You're still coming out of the drugs. Do you really wanna go out there where everyone can see all your freaky emotional breakdowns?”

Damn bastard laughed at me. Openly and wholeheartedly laughed. I have no idea what I said that was so funny and I pulled my hand away, dropping it to my side where both hands balled into fists. Wiping his eyes, he shook his head. “Since when do you care?”

“That's the thing Zoro. Yeah, I know I give you shit. And yes, we fight like crazy. But when it boils right down to the basics of all this I do care. I may not always come out and say it like you do, but I do care about you.” Crossing my arms, I watched as his face dropped and his shoulders slumped forwards a bit.

“Oh.” Was all he said and it was barely audible at that.

* * *

How do you make Monkey D. Luffy, the most hyperactive scatter brain on the whole Grand Line, quiet?

Drug him.

Well, I wouldn't say  _ drug _ , Chopper called it a tincture. What's that? Well, without going into one of our dear doctor's rants, he's gonna mix a bunch of shit in a bottle and we are gonna hold our Captain down and pour it down his throat. This will be fun!

Kinda sadistic, aren't I?

Chopper had run off to his little room shortly after Zoro, who had once again thrown the blanket over his head like a hood, and I walked into the aquarium. The little reindeer was mumbling something about what he would and could use to create this herbal concoction, claiming that this would help everyone get to the meditative state we needed to be in to do this. Whatever it was we were doing.

Robin-chan filled us in on the plan and the crew scattered. Chopper was going to need some time to create enough for all of us and also said it would be a good idea for us to all be well rested. So tomorrow morning after breakfast. That was the time they had all agreed on.

Bringing the moss head in here had been a mistake as he immediately turned, bare feet slapping against the tiled floor, to the bar and grabbed the first bottle of booze he came across, pulling the cork with his teeth. He had it half gone, not caring at all about the small river that streamed from the corner of his mouth, before any of us realized that's what he was doing. Slamming it on the counter, he wiped his hand across his mouth and pulled the blanket back over his head. It had fallen off when he had titled his head back.

Luffy's laughter rang around the glass wall of the aquarium. “Good ole Zoro's back.”

He grinned, showing all his teeth and just beamed at his captain. “Yup.”

Zoro was most certainly still coming out of his emotional episode. He never smiled like that, even when you dropped a full crate of sake in front of him. Trust me on this, we tried. Most he had done was grunted and ignored us. Luffy pulled my attention. “Sanji! When's dinner?”

“Uh...” Hell if I knew? I didn't even know what fucking time it was! What time was it anyways? Didn't Franky think to install any clocks in this fancy ass crazy ship? Who doesn't install a clock?! In a bar?! “Yeah, sure; dinner. Right.”

Turning on my heel, I left the room. What was I even going to make for dinner? What did we have? Well rested Chopper had said. So...something heavy maybe? Something that would want to put us all to sleep early and get a good night's rest. Then it hit me. A nice thick beef stew with tons of fresh bread. That would most certainly do the trick! Oh, I am a genius.

My kitchen was soon filled with the wonderful smell of the stew and several loaves of bread baking. Luffy had arrived several times and several times he had left just as quickly, the end of my foot making sure he did. Robin-chan came by for more coffee and at one point Chopper poked his head out to see if he could use one of my whisks. As the little doctor closed the door again, chaos began.

Not in the kitchen, but I heard the slamming of a door and an angry yell of “Where are they?!” It could only mean one thing: Zoro had finally come out of his stupor and was fully back to being a grumbling, annoying shitty moss ball. The kitchen door slammed open. “Cook!”

I already knew where this was headed and didn't even bother turning, just stirred the stew, adding a little more pepper. “They are fine Marimo. Calm down.”

“I want them.” I could hear the anger in his voice as he growled out each word. “ _ Now _ .”

“No can do shithead. Not till we get through this.”

His fist slammed down on the counter next to me and I turned. Eyes narrowed, he stared angrily at me. The demonic tint showing through. Had I been a marine, I’m sure I would have pissed myself by now. Calmly I met his piercing gaze, unphased. “What the fuck.” This was a challenge. I could hear it in his voice. He wanted his swords and wasn't going to stop till he got them.

“Can't do it.” I shook my head and fished around in my breast pocket for a cigarette. He took this chance to swing at me and I ducked, back pedaling away from the stove. “Fucker! You knock that pot off there and I will kill you.”

“You won't.” He sounded so sure of himself as he stalked towards me, fist clenched at his side. “Where. Are. They. Sanji.” Each word was spat out, dripping with venom like I was the one who had decided this.

My toes clicked against the floor as I finally lit up and I saw his slight moment of pause. Then he grinned, that wild feral look, canines showing and the only thing that ran through my head was that his Asura being a tiger fit him perfectly. Blowing the smoke through my nose, one eyebrow shot up. “You wanna fight?”

He mimicked me, his own eyebrow cocking as he tilted his head to the side. “If it gets me my katana.”

Dinner was bubbling along nicely. I could hear it and see the steam rising from over Zoro's shoulder. The timer for the bread had some time left. I could afford a few minutes of bickering with the moron. I hesitated though. We were so close. I didn't want to risk dragging Andhera to the surface again. Zoro was upset, but this was legitimate anger, not some misguided possession. He was a  _ swordsman _ after all. Not having his weapons put him at a distinct disadvantage if we happened to get into a real altercation. Out here in the middle of the ocean though it seemed unlikely.

Taking a second drag, I pondered what would happen if I made the decision to tell him where they were. Or better yet if I went and got them. Nami-swan would probably try and kill me for entering their room again. Couldn't be any worse than Zoro trying to stare me to death right now though. Apparently I was taking too long, as he stepped forwards, swinging at me again with a growl.

He almost got me this time as I leaned back, just barely missing the hit to my cheek. I brought my foot up, catching him around the ankle and pulled his legs out from under him while he recovered from the swing. He fell back, landing hard on his back and I slammed my foot down on his chest, knocking the wind right out of him. Taking a drag, I leaned on my knee, looking down as he gasped for air.

He inhaled a sharp breath at the same time I blew smoke at him and he coughed, turning his head. “Shit head.” He grumbled in between coughs.

“I can't give them to you Zoro.” I tried to keep the emotion out of my voice. I don't think I was doing a good job though as he eyes flicked to watch me as I spoke. “You are lucky you are even awake right now. Just keep calm, will ya? Fucking christ.” I felt the tears brim in my eyes. I couldn't stop them. Everything from this week just suddenly hit me in the face. Wiping the back of my hand across my eyes, I felt his hands wrap around my shin. It wasn't tight or threatening, just there. “Shit.”

“Hey, Sanji,” Zoro sat up, pushing my foot off him and grabbed me by my belt, dragging me down to the floor with him. I sat on my ass, legs awkwardly off to the sides behind me. I just let him do what he wanted, pulling me against him into a hug. Numbly I buried my head in his shoulder. It was just too much. Everything this week. All the stress, mental and physical. And today. Today wasn't even over yet. What else could happen?

Why was I the one who had to bare all this? I knew Zoro had his own share, his own struggles, but he always seemed to handle everything so much better than I could. It wasn't fair. I just...I'm not sure I can handle anymore. Pain ripped through my side as I sucked in a raged breath, biting my lip. The tears just wouldn't stop, nor the body wracking sobs. This just wasn't fair. I hadn't asked for this type of responsibility. I hadn't asked to be fucking attacked the way I had all week long. I hadn't asked for some weird fucking creepy fox thing to invade my sleep and I most certainty didn't ask to almost be killed by whatever it was Zoro had called to himself.

I fucking hated it when his voice sounded the way it did now. Quiet and smooth, whispering to me that it would all be alright in the end, that it always was, as he ran one hand soothingly up and down my back. Stupid bastard made no motion to pull away. Instead he held me tighter as I clung to him, sobbing like some child who's lost his favorite toy. Forget it I don't even care anymore. There's no point in keeping up these walls around him right now. With everything we had gone through, one time couldn't hurt.

I felt a kiss placed to my temple and I finally pulled away, leaning back just enough to look at him. Reaching up, Zoro wiped his thumb across my cheek and quietly laid another kiss on my forehead. Screw him. He didn't even need to talk. Just little actions like these made me fall for him all over again. Sniffling, I took a shuddered breath and wiped the back of my sleeve across my face. Finally he spoke, ducking his head slightly to look up into both my eyes. He would do this occasionally and I couldn't help the small laugh and smile that slipped through. “Feel better?”

“A little.” I swallowed. “You don't know what it's been like for me this last week.” My voice was barely above a whisper. “This morning...I was...I was gonna...”

“Sanji stop.” Zoro's voice was suddenly firm. I tried to study his face, but it was void of all emotion, even his eyes held nothing. He just stared at me, mouth in a hard line. “Just don't. I don't want to hear it. I'm already pissed off enough that I let it happen.”

The timer on the oven sounded and I pulled my eyes away, turning towards the oven. He let go as I started to get up and just sat there in the middle of the kitchen floor and sighed. I worked around him as he collected himself. I was doing the best I could as well. Cooking always helped though and soon I was able to see clearly again and felt my face dry. Of course opening a really hot oven helped that along nicely.

The bread had been cooling for several minutes when I finally heard him stir and stand up off the floor. My back was too him again as I focused on the finishing touches to the stew. I felt his arms wrap around my waist and his chin thunked against my shoulder. “After dinner,” I felt every word he said against my shoulder as he spoke. “Can we grab a blanket and just go sit on the back deck and talk about everything that's gone on this week?”

It was quiet a moment as I stirred our meal. The burner dial shut off with a click as I turned it and I leaned back against his chest, closing my eyes. “Yeah, Marimo, that would be nice.”


	14. Chapter 14

Morning.

Chopper had finally arrived the night before as dinner was almost over. He grabbed the bowl I had set aside for him and plunked his little self at the table announcing that he was done with his mixture.

Breakfast had been quiet. No one really spoke and as the dishes were cleared away, Chopper hopped out of his chair and retrieved the concoction.

Now we all sat at the table, each of us holding a different sized vial, that the doctor explained was rational to our weight so we all stayed under roughly for the same time. I don't know how he does it, but the little guy's good. Our doctor had then explained what was in his tincture. Something about chamomile, marshmallow root and something he referred to as an indicta. I had stopped paying attention as I worked on boiling some tea and stared at the vile of greenish liquid in my hand.

This was it. We were going to do this. I felt eyes on me and looked up to see Zoro watching me from the dinning area of the room. His hand was cupped around his vile loosely as he leaned back on the couch, one knee on the seat cushions. His eyes were half lidded, his typical scowl masking any emotion that could be running through his head.

In his other hand he tightly gripped the Wado Ichimonji.

After much debate and arguing we had agreed to give him the one weapon. Just the one though and since then this unnerving calm had swept over him. He still wore that steely glare, but he seemed relaxed almost. Somehow that weapon brought a peace about him that I don't think any of us would ever understand.

He had it with him last night as he appeared at the back rail while I waited for him, blanket in one hand, sword in the other. He hadn't let it go, refusing to even let it rest at his side. He needed to be touching it he had told me. He couldn't explain why, but the marimo just felt like he had to keep a grasp on it. Hell, the moss ball  had even slept with it. Cradled it against his chest in his hammock, not daring to sleep outside the room with the others in case something happened during the night. In other words, not trusting himself to not hurt me or anyone else.

'She means a lot to you.' I had said as he sat back against the wall and looked up at me, his eyes his only betrayal of emotion. Something at that particular moment of sorrow mixed with love.

'This weapon is everything to me Sanji.' His voice was quiet as he half drew the blade, the light from inside the room behind us glinting off the cold steel. 'This is the reason we are even having this conversation.'

Zoro inhaled deeply through his nose as he continued to meet my gaze back at him. Suddenly he seemed so young. I forget sometimes that we all are. Hell we all take orders from a seventeen year old. But something about him this morning makes him look closer to fifteen than the almost twenty year old that I know.

I frowned. He saw it and straightened his shoulders a little bit in response. I wouldn't say he 'perked up' because he didn't, but he did acknowledge my change in facial expression. The grip on his weapon tightened as well.

I had sat down next to him, not wanting to disturb his reunion with the weapon. After a moment of quiet silence, Zoro sighed and thunked his head off the wall. 'How am I supposed to lead them?'

'Tell them what you told me. With Chopper's wonder drug, I don't think it will be that hard.' I leaned against him as I spoke, dropping my head to his shoulder. 'We can all just follow your voice there.'

“...Sanji. Earth to Sanji.” Luffy was in my face as I blinked at him. “You even listening?”

“Not really; no. What'd I miss?”

“Is the tea ready Sanji?” Chopper looked over to me from where he was standing in his chair, little hooves on the table. “We will do this all at the same time. Drink the medicine then the tea. It shouldn't take long after that for us to all really relax and fall into this meditative state.”

“Almost.” I turned back to what I was doing. Still, I couldn't get it all out of my head. This whole thing was still mostly beyond my comprehension. Were we  _ really  _ sitting around our new dinning table discussing what to do when we delved into a spiritual plane to fight off a demi-goddess? Thankfully tea was pretty mind numbing to make. Could make this in my sleep, so I keep finding myself wandering off in my own little world this morning. Being dragged back to the present by one thing or another.

Robin-chan stepped up next to me, opening the cabinets and removing the small tea cups we had. It took me a second to realize what she was doing, before I placed a hand on her arm. “Robin-chan, please. I can handle it.”

“You just seem a little distracted is all.” She smiled, she sweet creepy smile and stepped away without further hassle, placing the cups on the counter.

Zoro stood. His bare feet slapping quietly on the wood. “We should go out to the lawn deck guys.” I could just see him rubbing the back of his neck. Stupid nervous tick of his. I had kept telling him there was no reason to worry. We were all nakama after all. And we all knew that he was the best at this. The Strawhats would listen to him. He had simply shrugged at me.

Everyone filed out as I turned with the large tea kettle, placing that, my little vial and all the cups on the tray and following everyone out of the room. Zoro was standing in the middle of the deck, sword still in hand, pointing around for everyone to sit in a small circle. It was really kind of weird actually to watch the normally solitary man direct the others about. He had mentioned at one point in time that maybe someday he would open a dojo. I had snorted at him. 'You? Around kids?' Seeing this though, he might be onto something.

Standing back, I poured the tea as he pushed Luffy by the shoulders to a sitting position near Nami-swan, directing Usopp and Chopper to form one half of the circle's arc with a point of a finger and motion of his arm. I felt nervous and I'm not even sure why. This was something that I had done before. Well, okay, no it really wasn't. But as I had said to Zoro, my nakama were right there with me. We could do this.

“Cook,” Zoro turned to me as I picked the tray back up and walked towards the little circle. “You ready?”

I simply nodded as I held the tray down to the ladies before working my way to the others, lastly swinging the tray to Zoro who took both his cup and mine and siting effortlessly into a crossed legged position, cups held in each hand. It was then, as I sat next to him and set the tray aside, that I realized he had set his sword down. It didn't last long though as he handed me my little white tea cup and picked up his weapon, laying it across his lap.

“You need to take it as one dose.” Chopper said, pulling the cork and wrinkling his little blue nose. “It will probably be very sweet.”

Everyone followed the little doctor's motions and uncorked the vials. He was right, it at least smelled sweet. A very overpowering sickly sweet. Zoro snorted next to me, pulling his face away from the vial with a disgusted look on his face. “Why do I have to drink this? Smells horrible.”

“We all do Zoro.” Chopper said quietly. “I agree, it is pretty strong, but if we are all going to stay in this place together, than we all need to be there for the same amount of time right?”

“I guess.”

“Think of it as a really bad shot of something Bro.” Franky offered, pushing his sunglasses up against his forehead. “Get it down quick.”

“On three.” Luffy held up his little vial. “Ready everyone?”

_ One. _

_ Two. _

_ Three. _

It had to be the worst shot I had ever tasted. And it was thick, almost like syrup, with a bitter after taste. That had to be the marshmallow root. Nothing else could sound sweet and taste like shit. Thankfully there was a tea chaser. Zoro shook his head as he slammed the little cup in the grass, as did Luffy, Usopp and Franky. Robin-chan held hers in her hands, while Nami-swan and Chopper just set theirs down. I placed my mine back on the tray.

Taking a deep breath, Zoro turned to Chopper. “Okay, how long before this shit kicks in?”

“Maybe five or ten minutes.” The little reindeer swiveled his ears around as he spoke.

“Okay.” Sighing, Marimo looked at me for a second,. His eyes held everything in them in that one moment. There was an anxiety there at leading everyone in something that only he was good at. This was completely different than leading on a battle field. That he had done before. This was leading one's consciousness to perhaps a place where it could get shattered. He blinked at me and I nodded, encouraging him wordlessly, then turned towards the group. “I need you all to close your eyes and just listen to my voice.”

A small murmur of 'okays' sounded then silence fell. Myself, included, eyes drifted closed and waited for the voice of the man next to me. The man, who was the sole reason we were sitting in the middle of our new ship, waiting for his every word. Hanging in a comfortable silence before plunging into the unknown.

Then Zoro spoke. His voice a low quiet sound. Not his normal gruff bark as he explained what we all needed to do. It was soothing in a weird, awkward, if you thought about it, way. This was Roronoa Zoro we were talking about. There was nothing soothing about him. “As I said earlier, we all need to be comfortable. You won't even realize how much time passes, but if you are uncomfortable, it can pull you out before you are ready.” He paused and I heard him swallow, taking another breath. “Clear your mind of everything but my voice. Focus on that. Focus on breathing. Deep breaths, in through your nose...” He paused as he and the rest of us all took deep breaths, you could hear it in the silence that hung in the air. “And out through your nose.” He repeated this several times.

Already I could feel myself slipping. In the quiet corners of my mind, I would admit I liked to just lie at night and listen to him talk to me. It was rare though, so I soaked up every word when he did. I felt sleepy, but I was still very alert as the words he spoke changed again.

“Okay, now; ask yourself this question. Focus on just those words, nothing else.” Luffy whined slightly at this and Zoro sighed. “Luffy...You have to focus. How do I reach my Deva? Okay. Everyone focus on that question. How do I reach my Deva? Guess I will see you there.” I heard him take another deep breath next to me, felt his presence shift ever so slightly and I was gone.

Everything around me was black and quiet. I couldn't hear the others breathing anymore. Just empty black silence. I turned in what I thought was a circle, but it was hard to tell. This wasn't right. Last time Sud'dha had been here to greet me. Did I mess something up this time around?

A small light flared behind me and I looked over my shoulder to see him, in that large form walking gracefully towards me, blue flamed feet leaving fiery footprints in his wake. He almost seemed more majestic this time. Almost felt stronger. “Sanji.” His voice hummed through me as he seemed to smile as he stepped up to me, leaning forwards and nuzzling his head against my chest. Such familiarity was a little weird to me, but it couldn’t have been for him if what he said was true. He had known me my entire life. I wonder if Zoro and Dagi greeted each other in a similar manner.

“Where are the others?” I found myself saying as I brought my hands up to actually touch this creature. I found my hands fell against soft fur on his cheeks despite the fact that he seemed to made entirely of flames. Looking around for a moment, I frowned as I looked back to him. His deep azure eyes staring right back at me.

“They will come.” He nodded his head, rubbing against my chest and then pushed me back away from him with a nudge of his head. I fell back against something and turned to find Zoro standing there, his white sword perched over his shoulder.

“Oh hey cook, ya made it.” He grinned at me, peering over my shoulder as I just stared dumbfounded at him a moment. I don't know why I didn't expect to see him. Wasn't this the plan? “You have changed Sud'dha. Sanji told me about you last night.”

“Zoro.” Sud'dha bowed his head slightly as he spoke the swordsman's name.

Then Zoro's words hit me. “Well of course I got here. Why wouldn't I? Wasn't this my idea in the first place, shitty Marimo?”

“I don't know cook, you had me drugged remember.” He scowled at me.

“I didn't have you drugged.” I said quietly. “That wasn't my idea at all.”

“Che. I'm sorry Sanji. Just being here without Dagi puts me on edge.” He rubbed the back of his neck and this time I gave him a quizzical look.

“Without him? You've been here...well of course you have been here before. I guess I just figured this was like a second home to you.”

“It's quite dark here.” Robin-chan's voice sounding cause the three of us to turn as she and a very large white and purple heron walked towards us. My little fox ran up to the bird, leaping about it like a little puppy, excitedly explaining how they, meaning us, had all started to gather. “May I introduce Jina.” She spoke with a wave of her hand towards the elegant bird. The heron craned her neck back, but didn't speak.

“It—it's really dark here.” Usopp's shaky voice sounded and he appeared next to us, just materializing out of thin air. “Where are we?”

“We are on the ship.” Sud'dha spoke and Usopp looked at the fox, paled and looked like he was going to pass out.

“You weren't kidding were you?” Suddenly he jumped and yelled, looking down at his feet. Laying there on the ground was what appeared to be a yellow ball. It couldn't have been much bigger than a canon ball. “What is this?” Reaching down, the sniper picked it up and held it in his hands. A second later it opened. The fucking ball broke apart...I guess I shouldn't really be bothered by anything that happens here on this plane anymore. The weirdest shit occurs, revealing a small animal. “It's an armadillo!” Usopp proclaimed excitedly. “We had these on my island. Ah, he's so cute!”

I rolled my eyes and Zoro chuckled as Usopp snuggled the little thing to his face where it blinked and looked around. An armadillo, somehow that is very fitting to our sniper. Robin-chan actually said this as I was thinking it and stepped closer to take a better look at it. It squeaked at her intrusion and instantly curled back into a ball. Yeah, totally Usopp.

“Where are the others?” Sud'dha spoke as he pushed me with his head again and I turned with a shrug. Where was everyone else though? If the four of us were able to do this, so should everyone else. The only one that Zoro and I had been concerned with was Luffy. He couldn't keep his attention on anything 'boring' for more than five seconds. He had seemed willing though to do this. So, I don't know. Must have just been taking them a bit longer.

“Luffy!” Nami-swan's voice rang out with a laugh from our captain and those two, along with the hat wearing monkey Luffy spoke about, appeared near by. Those two bounded up to the rest of us and Luffy grinned, pointing down to the chimp sized red primate. It wore the same hat as our captain, a long tail curled around it's feet.

“I named him Meat and we scared Nami.” So proud of himself.

“What is this place?” Nami-swan stepped up next to Luffy, holding what appeared to be a small orange cat. Also very fitting. Seems most of these Devas took on a familiar form to the owner. Or at least something they could relate easily to. The cat jumped from her arms and changed as it landed, growling at Zoro. It was still orange, but looked more like a lynx now, than a small house cat.

“Wanna go?” Our idiot moss ball grabbed hold of his sword hilt, ready to draw the weapon. “Never liked you anyways.” The lynx hissed. Even here he and Nami-swan didn't get along. Luffy just laughed. And of course so did his monkey.

Finally the heron spoke, voice slightly above a whisper, but still very noticeable, much like Robin-chan herself. “If Luffy has made it, than I have no doubts the other two will as well.” She shook her feathers as Robin-chan simply nodded in agreement.

All the Deva seemed to be very interested in Zoro though. They all were rather familiar with him and he with them. Luffy's monkey, Meat, shuffled his way to the marimo's feet and pulled in his pant leg. “Still no Dagi.” He said. Zoro just shook his head and the monkey pulled his  hat over his eyes like Luffy did when upset.

Next came a roar and Franky appeared with a large brown bear that was roughly the same size as Sud'dha, with glowing blue eyes and what appeared to be a blue star in the center of it's chest. The shipwright looked small, next to the bear, as he walked up to us. He didn't say anything, just looked around, sliding his sunglasses to his forehead. A whispered “Dude...” was mumbled as he looked from team to team, I guess that's what I could call us. Deva and Strawhat.

“Where's Chopper?” Usopp had finally decided to stop snuggling his little yellow ball and looked around. “He's the only one not here.”

“Can he even get here?” Nami asked. “Oh no, what if he can't. Didn't your book say this was a human thing Robin?”

“Well, yes, but from what Sanji was saying, he should be able to be here as well because of his Devil Fruit.” The archeologist frowned.

“Well shit.” I said. “Wouldn't that just mess things up.” Stupid fox. He had said Chopper could be here as well. We were supposed to do this as a team. As a crew. If one of us couldn't get here, wherever here really was, then what?

“Maybe he got lost. Chopper!” Luffy cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled.

“Luffy, how do you get lost? Aren't we on the ship still?” Nami-swan put her hands on her hips.

“Luffy!” Chopper’s wail came from some far off place and he bounded up to us in his reindeer form, shaking and scared out of his mind. “I couldn't find you guys! It's so dark here!” He took a deep breath, then panted for a second. “Then this giant thing came out of no where and tried to talk to me, but I ran off.”

“What did it look like Chopper?” Luffy asked, patting him on the head.

“Like me, but bigger!” Chopper morphed to his normal size and hid behind Luffy's leg. Well, not really. Silly reindeer still has it backwards. “It's really scary. Reminds me of the herd I was kicked out of.” Then he screamed and went to run off, but Luffy grabbed him and picked him up as a large reddish-pink reindeer bounded into our space. He did, in fact, look a lot like Chopper, but was indeed bigger. Snorting, the Deva stomped his foot, then bowed slightly to Robin-chan's heron, who dipped her head in return. So these guys had their own order amongst themselves.

There seemed to be a moment of silent conversing between the Devas as the rest of us just stood around stupidly looking on. Weren't we supposed to be doing something here? How was standing around in the middle of some dark plane helping us do anything? I mean, okay, I get all this is pretty new and  _ really  _ weird, but still! Wasn't the point of all this to get rid of this Andhera who is currently wreaking havoc on the moss head? Wasn't that the plan we came up with?

Angrily, I shoved my hand in my breast pocket, fished out my cigarettes and pulled one out, getting my lighter from my pocket. I gave a sigh of frustration as I lit it, inhaling and holding my breath as I got a raised eyebrow from Zoro and confused looks from everyone else. “What?” I muttered as I put everything away, exhaling in a cloud at them as I did so.

“You are as impatient as Sud'dha says you are.” Jina spoke in her sweet voice again. “We are attempting to form a plan. Nothing has been done like this in a long time and the last time it was, every human involved had a relationship like Dagi and Zoro do. This is difficult even for us. Be calm young human.”

I crossed my arms as Luffy laughed at me and Zoro rolled his eyes. Usopp and Nami-swan had moved together, discussing how cute his little armadillo was while Franky and Robin-chan seemed more interested in where exactly on the ship they were. They were talking to the bear that followed Franky's every move with small grunts and whines.

Zoro still looked lost and Sud'dha stepped up to him, nuzzling into his chest as he had done to me. I knew he was speaking to Zoro, but I couldn't understand what was being said. After a minute though, the swordsman wrapped his hands in the fur of the fox's neck and dropped his head in between his large blue-tipped ears. A soft “I know” came from him, mumbled into the soft fur.

I felt really sad all of sudden. The connection Zoro seemed to have with his Asura ran a lot deeper than I had realized before now. He seemed lost without him here. That moron meditated almost every day, if not everyday, so he must have been as familiar with this place as any. How long has he known we all have these Devas? Has he known? He seems so familiar with my fox. Is it simply because they both share a common interest in me? Or was it because Zoro had been interacting with him for the past several months? If so, why hadn't he said anything? Okay, probably because I wouldn't have believed him. Hell, I’m  _ standing _ here and still aren’t sure I believe this.

Jina ruffled her feathers, causing everyone, both human and Deva alike to turn to her. “We have decided that it would be wise to retrieve Dagi first.”

“Retrieve?” Nami-swan spoke before any of the rest of us could. “What do you mean retrieve? Can't he just appear like you guys do?”

“Normally. But the Asura that has been trying to replace him has him locked away on a deeper plane. We must get to him first.” Looking from Nami-swan to Zoro, Jina continued. “You know what plane I am speaking of.”

Zoro nodded, eyes cast downward. “Yes.”

“And the last time you tried to get there?”

The man snapped. His hands balled into fists and he turned a nasty glare at the heron. He barked out each word to her, eyes narrowed in anger. “You know damn well what happened! We wouldn't even be here if—” He stopped suddenly, darting glances at all of us, before coming to me. With a frown and a sigh, he dropped his shoulders. “It  _ will _ be different this time.”

“I should hope.” Jina's voice was firm as she regarded the swordsman. What the hell had happened last time? Could that have been when he called this Asura to him? And deeper plane? Okay, I get there are many levels of subconsciousness, but the Deva seem to know what happened. “We will go with you. By retrieving Dagi, that will bring Andhera to us. We can feel her lurking, but she has been hiding ever since her attempt to kill Sanji. That was when Dagi managed to break free of her complete hold.”

So it had been real. Yes, I may have been dreaming, but she really had tried to kill me. Zoro's anger suddenly shifted to me. “So  _ that's _ what you wouldn't tell me? For fuck's sake Sanji!” He stepped towards me, but Sud'dha jumped in front of him, growling softly, teeth bared.

“We are wasting time!” He snarled at the swordsman and Zoro stopped, but the glare didn't lessen as he stared at the fox. “ _ You _ may be able to come here when you wish Roronoa, but they can't. We have a lot to do here. And not a lot of time to do it.”

“What do we need to do?” Luffy spoke up, crossing his arms and craning his neck back to look at Jina. He cast a side-long glance at Zoro, who growled out a sigh and stalked a few feet away, sitting cross-legged on the dark floor and crossing his arms.

“We need to delve deeper. I will not ask you to join us on the deeper planes for even Zoro is not safe there.” At this point Zoro muttered a low “yeah yeah” that either went unnoticed or no one bothered to provoke him as the heron continued. “We Deva will go there with him and we should be able to quickly bring Dagi back with us. What we need from you is to stand guard here in case Andhera attacks while we are there.”

“How do we fight her?” Luffy was already cracking his knuckles. Murmurs from the rest of the crew rose as well, asking the same thing. How were we supposed to fight a demi-goddess in her own realm?

“Think of this as a dream.” The heron spread her wings, brilliant white and purple feathers against the black drop of this plane. “Anything you could do in a dream you can do here. Even though we are helping Zoro we are still here to help you should she appear. We will not be gone long. Zoro is much stronger than he was and so is his Asura.”

“Dagi.” Zoro stated. “I will not call him that any longer.”

“Dagi.” Jina bobbed her head in correction.

That was the end of the conversation. I couldn't get past Zoro's familiarity with all of them. We were going to have a long talk about this once this was over. Sud'dha nuzzled me once once before walking over to Zoro and curling around him, almost as it to protect him. Wrapping his body around the grumpy swordsman, he swept his tail over his nose and with a sigh, the fox closed his eyes.

“Everyone, form a circle facing out around Zoro.” Luffy swiped a hand through the air and we all followed on silent command. I tapped my shoes as I heard various noises behind and around me. Taking a long drag off my cigarette, I snuffed it out and pulled a new one as I exhaled. The lighter clicked as I heard Zoro take a deep breath behind me. I didn't dare look over my shoulder. I kept staring straight ahead into the darkness.

If that witch thought she was going to come after me or my crew now, I was going to be ready.

No one moved for what seemed like forever. The only sounds were of Zoro's steady breathing as one by one the Devas faded away, probably headed to that deeper plane with the swordsman. The only one who remained with us was Sud'dha, but he grew faint and transparent. Must be hard to be on two different planes at once. Then Zoro growled, his breathing became erratic, like he was fighting something and one leg kicked out, but after that he didn't move again. His breathing calmed once more and it fell quiet. I have no idea how time works in this place, but I wouldn't say more that fifteen minutes went by of us standing a silent guard.

Nami-swan's shoes clicked as she took a step back. “Uh guys...”

I swung around as she raised her weapon and Luffy pulled back a fist, mumbling his signature attack phrase under his breath. Usopp, knees still shaking, had pulled his slingshot back and I saw Franky flex a hand. Chopper and I were the only one's to not make a move to attack.

At first it was just a low growl, but for some reason I knew instantly what it was. “No, don't,” I placed my hand on Nami-swan's weapon as the beast lurked out of the shadows, long tail whipping back and forth as it stalked towards us on large silent paws. My imagination had not been playing tricks on me the previous day. There, was, in fact, a large green and white striped tiger materializing in front of us. The growl continued as it trailed threatening amber eyes from one of us to the other, landing on a place past all of us. An ear flicked and I couldn't help the small laugh at the three identical earrings. The animal stopped, just outside of Nami-swan's reach, another low growl coming from deep in it's throat.

Zoro gasped behind us and I turned to see him scrabble to his feet and run at the tiger. Never have I seen the man act like this before. He fell to his knees, sliding the last few feet to the tiger, wrapping his arms around its neck and burying his head in the long fur there. A very muffled “I'm so sorry” and I'm pretty sure I heard a sniffle or two. The tiger sat on his haunches, wrapping one paw around the swordsman, pulling him close against him.

Then it spoke. I don't know why I didn't expect the voice to be so deep, it's completely fitting, but it still caused me to jump. The other Devas began to appear again, materializing next to their Strawhat counterparts and I felt Sud'dha against my leg. “You and your friends righted one wrong Zoro.” The large tiger bowed his head, purring now. Zoro, still lost in everything, just clung to the animal, half disappearing into the fur. “We are not done yet though. Stand up Roronoa. A true test still awaits.”

Oh yeah. This is most definitely Zoro's real Asura.

A moment past before Zoro slowly got to his feet, back to us all, hand now holding his valued sword in a white knuckle grip. Wiping the back of his hand across his face, he turned to us, eyebrows lowered. Then a smile crept across his face. The smile we had all seen countless times and I heard Luffy's 'hehe' as he came to the same realization I had.

Zoro was looking for blood.

Behind him Dagi crouched down, tail whipping back and forth, growling once more. Next to me, Sud'dha seemed to burst into blue and yellow flame. Nami's cat grew into the lynx again and Chopper's reindeer stomped the ground and let loose a battle call, long and loud. Franky's bear doubled in size and roared as well, jaw slamming closed with a loud snap. Usopp's little armadillo grew, darkening in color and standing it's ground like some sort of little tank while Luffy's monkey screamed and yelled, banging his fists against his chest.

Robin's heron, Jina, was the only one to not make a move. “Do not celebrate yet.” All the Deva stopped at her word, but Zoro stalked forwards, drawing his sword and growling just like the tiger that still was. The swordsman was about to open his mouth when out of nowhere something seemed to slam into him, throwing him back. Zoro hit the ground hard and slid several feet away. Wado incimonji flew from his grasp and went skittering off to the side.

Then came the laugh. Something deep and evil as a hand materialized, picking Zoro right up off the ground around the waist and just held him suspended in mid air. Zoro's Asura attacked, with a low growl and a short roar, he jumped towards the hand that held the swordsman hostage. A second hand came from no where, grabbed the animal, throwing him roughly against the ground. He landed with a hard thud and lay still a moment. Zoro cried out, arching back in what appeared to be pain, eyes squeezed shut. “I am still in control here.” A loud voice rang out. It almost sounded female and instantly I knew who this was.

This was Andhera.

This was why we were here.

And that bitch had my swordsman.


	15. Chapter 15

Both Luffy and I moved, going to attack the hand that held out crew mate. That second hand came up, easily knocking us aside. I landed hard on my side and slid a few feet on my shoulder, coming to rest near Chopper. Zoro cried out in pain again, mixed with another evil laugh from this Asura who had yet to fully reveal herself.

“Sanji!” Chopper's hands flew over me, but I pushed him aside, moving up to one knee, then shifting to a crouching position. I saw Luffy stand and roll his shoulders from the corner of my eye. I heard both the ladies suck is breaths at Zoro's cry and off to the side, Franky's bear roared.  _ Fuck! _

Dagi rolled, swinging back up onto his feet, tail whipping around. Crouching his front legs for another attack, the tiger took a leap forwards, drawing the attention of the second hand, a growling roar leaving his throat. He bit into the hand, teeth sinking deep as his front feet took a hold and his back legs scrabbled for a purchase. It was enough of a distraction for the moment.

Luffy struck, and surprisingly, so did Usopp, our sniper aiming for the wrist of the hand holding Zoro. The shot to the wrist caused Andhera to let go and the swordsman fell, Chopper's larger self bounding over to catch him easily. The tiger and our captain both attacked the second hand. It didn't look like they really did any damage, but they did cause a scream to erupt from the shadows and both hands pulled back, disappearing from view.

The pink reindeer laid down near myself and Chopper, Zoro sliding off the Deva's back to the dark surface we all stood on. With a groan, a hand came to his head and his shook it, blinking as he looked up to where he had been just moments before. “Wha...? Chopper, I'm fine.” Pushing the doctor away, Zoro stood up and moved towards where Wado lay. Chopper went to chase after Zoro, to scold him for just brushing him off, when the reindeer's Deva stopped him with a stamp of his hoof.

Meat appeared, a smaller version of himself perched on Luffy's shoulder as the green tiger bounded away to be with Zoro. There was a rustle of wings and Jina finally spoke, shielding us from behind with her large wingspan. “She will be back. There is no way we have scared her off that easily.” She craned her neck back into a graceful arch. “We must focus on pooling our energies to lend to those fighting. Nami, Robin, Franky, Chopper and all your Devas, come sit here with me.”

Wordlessly they moved, Chopper's only protest being that if anyone got hurt, he was going to help them. He was a doctor after all. “What do you need us to do?” Robin-chwan spoke calmly to her Deva, coming to sit on one of the long clawed toes.

“Same as you did to get here.” Jina craned her neck down to speak to the group huddled at her feet now. “Close your eyes and breathe deep. Focus on lending your strengths to those around you.” Without question several sets of eyes fluttered closed and I growled, flicking my gaze over my shoulder to where Zoro had stalked off, but he was no where to be seen. How the hell could he get lost here? And at a time like this? Or had Andhera taken our moment of distraction to grab him again?

“Sanji!” Luffy's voice was cut short and there was a high pitched yip from Sud'dha and I turned to see the most gorgeous woman ever walking towards me. Long white hair fell over what appeared to be naked breasts and the most piercing green eyes I had ever seen appeared to glow. A sheer skirt of black hung low on her hips, slits all the way up her long legs to reveal just enough at what lay underneath.

I was drooling, could feel it dripping from the corner of my mouth as I stood gawking at her. My mind registered my fox Deva landing in a heap, but I hardly noticed it. I couldn't move, wouldn't move, not with this tantalizing beauty before me. Usopp shot at her, but with a wave of her hand, the sniper's shot wobbled and flew off somewhere harmlessly. Then she smiled, baring pointed canines that looked very similar to the one's I had grown used to seeing in a smile and she raised her arms in front of her, unsheathing what appeared to be Zoro's white sword.

Her voice was like honey as she spoke to me, quickly closing the gap between us and if this be my fate than so be it. “I should have killed you when I had the chance.” The silver blade shone despite the darkness of this realm we were in as the white saya clattered to the floor. Taking another step forwards, her arm swung back, bringing the blade high over her head.

“Sanji!” Luffy's voice was panicked from somewhere that seemed too far off as he yelled again. Suddenly everything seemed so far away, but I couldn't pull my eyes from the woman that stood in front of me. The blade dropped. I could see the shift in the movements, feel the hum of energy from the weapon itself. “Sanji!” Were there tears riddled in my captain's cry?

A blur of green, a clash of steel and I was on my ass, staring up at Zoro's back. A vicious, angry scream and I saw four arms grow out from the creature in front of Zoro as it shifted from the incredible beauty to the deadly Asura. Skin paled and black veins appeared on the flesh as fingernails seemed to grow to claws and the eyes went from that lovely green to a deadly blood red. The muscles of the swordsman's back flexed under the strain and I just sat there staring. “Z—Zoro?!”

“Dammit cook!” He grunted out, slipping in his stance as Andhera laughed and caused him to put his weight behind the block he was trying to hold. Slowly she was breaking it, I could see it in the way the muscles in his arms tensed and shook. Pushing back, Zoro growled at his own Asura, who just laughed in his face openly mocking him.

Her voice hissed in both our ears as I stood back up behind him, hands snapping into fists at my sides. “He is your weakness,” the once smooth voice now sounded gravelly and I ground my teeth against it. “Let me kill him Zoro and we can grow in power together.” One of the free hands reached out and caressed his cheek as she spoke. “Free yourself of your burdens.” The moss ball flinched away, narrowing his eyes at her.

There was a screech at metal slid against metal and Zoro twisted slightly, dropping to one knee as the Asura bared down on him, five of her six arms gripping the hilt of Wado, the sixth one hanging in the air near the marimo's face. I got a good look at her now. The beauty that was there a moment ago striped away and some unknown anger rose up the back of my neck at the way she was holding Zoro's most prized weapon. “Hold still.” I spoke as I moved, gripping hard onto Zoro's shoulder with my right hand and using that as leverage, swung my body over him, aiming a well placed kick to her cheek. She could have a taste of her own if she thought she could just so easily touch him like that.

It didn't have a powerful affect, even though I put most of my strength behind it, but the kick tore her away from Zoro long enough for him to shift again, kicking out of his own accord and knocking her down, the Wado once again clattering to the floor. It's brilliant shine died away and my feet touched the floor for only a second before I was jumping in the opposite direction, flipping into a hand stand, one hand wrapping around the hilt and darting back up and away from Andhera.

It was only now, as I held the weapon in my hand, that I realized Zoro had countered her attack with weapons of his own. Yet he had only arrived here with the Wado Ichimonji. How could he have gotten...oh yeah. Pulling and lighting a cigarette, I watched through half lidded eyes as Zoro loomed over the fallen demon, the Kitetsu pointed down at her. We all had the power to pull whatever we needed or wanted to us in this plane. Zoro knew this the best of us all. No wonder he was able to pull up the Yubashiri as well.

A hand fell onto my shoulder and I saw Usopp standing behind Luffy, slingshot pulled back, the end of the Kabuto almost touching the ground as he aimed down at Andhera. My captain's grip on my shoulder was just tight enough to let me know of his concern for both myself and Zoro. “He has to do this.” It wasn't Luffy, but Meat who spoke from the Devil Fruit user's shoulder. “This is his fight. We are here to help.”

“We are all nakama. He's my—” I stopped as Luffy shook his head.

“Dagi.” Zoro grunted the word as Andhera glared at him from the ground. The tiger materialized on his shoulder, small and docile, like the first time I had seen Sud'dha and I felt him curl around my legs at the same time. The moss ball turned his head slightly to listen to what the, now, small tiger was saying to him, but his gaze never left the woman on the floor, the tip of his blade just touching her throat where it dipped into her collar bones. If she breathed the wrong way, Zoro could run her through before she even knew what had touched her.

“You can't get rid of me.” She hissed, her voice filling the air around us with hate and despair, giving it a heavy feeling. Then she laughed, lifting herself with her arms, pressing the tip of the sword against her white skin. “I dare you to try it swordsman.”

Zoro simply grunted, but who he was acknowledging was up in the air. Dagi's tail whipped about on his shoulder as the little tiger crouched down, wanting to pounce. Sud'dha growled low from between my feet as Usopp's armadillo appeared, squaring himself up before the sniper.

“Cook.”

I looked up from between my feet at the flaming fox to Zoro as he spoke to me. He hadn't turned anymore, but had sheathed the sword he had been holding in his left hand. His arm was outstretched towards us, bent awkwardly from the angle needed to keep his palm up and open.

“I need her.”

I jolted forwards into motion after a moment once I realized who 'her' was. He wanted the sword I held. My feet carried me the few paces till I stood next to him and he lightly wrapped his grip around the hilt, his hand brushing mine as I let go. A faint smile crossed his face and I know I mimicked it as he took his eyes off the Asura at his feet and looked at me. “Thanks.”

It was the worst possible thing he could have done.

Andhera moved with a laugh, faster than anything I had seen and was between Zoro and me, ripping the two of us away from each other. A hand wrapped in my shirt tightly, choking off my air and I gasped as my feet left the ground, my hands grasping at the wrist that held me. There was a bright, blinding explosion and I realized it was from Usopp and whatever ammo he had loaded previously. A gray cloud of smoke formed as the grip around my neck tightened and I kicked out wildly, trying to aim for anything to even get her to lessen the grip.

I heard Luffy roar and shout, but his attacks were batted away easily as the female demon seemed to grow in size. She wasn't nearly as big as she was before, but was probably double what she had been. Large enough for her hand to easily circle my neck with out much effort. Suddenly she stopped, letting out a strangled and pained cry, whipping her head towards where Zoro was. Through fading vision I saw him drop to the ground, the white sword dripping with black blood as he crouched there, his right arm supporting him. Dagi leapt onto his shoulders from behind him, using the swordsman as a platform before jumping forwards again, a savage roar leaving his jaw as he jumped for Andhera's throat. He struck her chest, claws digging into the marred flesh as he bit at anything his long teeth and powerful jaws came in contact with.

Her grip came away and I slipped from her hand, dropping to the ground where I barely caught myself as the hand that had been holding me flew to dislodge the tiger biting at her neck. Sucking in a deep breath I watched, my own hand at my throat as Zoro bolted from his place on the ground, taking a few long strides before jumping after Dagi.

Sud'dha shot from my feet, growing and growling as he did so, swinging out and darting back in at Andhera's feet, biting at her Achilles’s tendon, causing her to lift her foot and let out a cry. Balance now shifted, Luffy took off for the other leg, arms thrown back as he growled out “gomu gomu no...” Sliding to a stop behind her, he yelled out, his cry of “Bazooka!” seeming to ring around the darkened area.

The knee of her stable leg buckled as she fell back, not sure where her attention should go. Luffy grabbed a hold of Sud'dha and the two bounded away from the falling Asura back towards us as Usopp let loose an attack to her face. This clouded over Zoro and Dagi as Andhera fell back, her back hitting the solid surface with a heavy thud. Her shoulders arced up from the pain, but her whole body seemed to freeze as she sucked in a started gasp.

The noise didn't sound right at all. It sounded wet, almost like a gurgle. I had heard this noise several times before and next to me Sud'dha patted up silently, Luffy's hands wrapped in the long fur of his neck. My captain let out a grunt of approval with a sharp nod as he jumped off the Deva. Next to me Usopp made some noise in the back of his throat that half sounded like a gag and a whimper. The smoke from his shot cleared away in a rush of wind that could have only been from the moss head's swords to reveal him and Dagi. The tiger was as large as he once was, stripes an almost black green now as he seemed to glow, his dangerous aura pouring off of him visibly.

The clearing smoke also revealed the swordsman. Zoro leaned back on his heels from his kneeling position on the Asura's chest, white sword raised high in both hands. Right before his knees, his other two weapons lay buried to their hilts in the pale white flesh of Andhera. “Is...is he...?” The sharpshooter stumbled over his words as he stared open mouthed at the scene before us and it took me a second to realize what he was talking about. It wasn't uncommon for us to see Zoro on the offensive like he was now, but Usopp wasn't referring to the fact that he was about to plunge yet another sword in the chest of this demon. The tiger and the marimo looked like they were growing in size and it took us a second to realize that they weren't growing, it was Andhera who was shrinking.

“She's loosing power. Her hold is slipping on him.” Meat was the one who spoke and we all turned to look at him, now perched on Sud'dha's head. “He can't completely destroy her though, but he can weaken her enough to make her leave.”

“Makes sense.” Luffy said idly as he turned back to Zoro. I turned back as well, jaw snapping shut as the swordsman was now kneeling over the original form that walked up to me. The skin was still pale and riddled with black veins as a quickly spreading pool of black blood formed around his knees. Yubashiri and Kitetsu looked awkward as they stood from her chest.

Light reflected off the brilliance of the Wado Ichimonji as Zoro twisted it in his grip, adjusting the weapon slightly so it would hit home accurately. Andhera's voice echoed around the black darkness, seconding Meat's claim that she couldn't be killed. Dagi growled low and Zoro seemed to simply shrug slightly. “Go wherever you want.” He said through a growl. I shuddered. Zoro pissed off alone was intimidating, but the man with his Asura right there was just down right  _ terrifying.  _ “But,” his voice seemed to drop in tone. The dreaded and feared demon trait coming out. The air seemed to still around us as the next words Zoro spoke were low and deadly, sounding way too calm and natural from his mouth. “You leave this ship and you leave my nakama alone.”

As the last word left him, the sword dropped, joining the others in the Asura's chest as she gave a loud cry. A very similar sound to the one from my dream just the day before was heard and I felt my stomach turn. It was a sound I would never get used to. She tried to arch her back from the pain, but the weapons held her down. Her hands came up, weakly grabbing for Zoro's shirt, but he easily smacked them away and stood up, one hand reaching out to Dagi as he did so. The swordsman gave a grunt as he wrapped the hand in Dagi's fur, not in the least bit phased by the darkness pouring from the creature.

This seemed familiar though and as the presence of Andhera weakened, the welcoming fear that was just Zoro seemed to flood back in around us. Luffy shifted his hat and turned, placing a hand on my shoulder with a huge grin before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking away, fading into the darkness like he had never even been there. Usopp gave a contented sigh and when I turned to face him he was simply gone. Turning back to Zoro, he simply glared at me over his shoulder, rolling his eyes. “Come on cook,” he said once before he too seemed to vanish before my eyes, leaving nothing more than a stained patch of blood on the floor from where he had once stood. When the hell did Andhera disappear?! And Dagi? Hell, even Sud'dha was gone!

“Hey Sanji!” I felt a rough push on my shoulder and opened my eyes to see Zoro glaring at me from where he was sitting next to me. “Welcome back you stupid dart brow.”

“Shut up!” I shifted to kick him in the face, but he grabbed my foot with a low laugh and pulled, dragging me into his lap where he managed to maneuver me quickly enough so I couldn't kick him as he wrapped his arms around my own arms and my chest, effectively locking me against him. Struggling against him, I slammed my heels into the grass of the deck, still attempting to get away. “Dammit marimo! Let me go!”

“Relax,” he spoke quietly near my ear. “Everyone else left already. You decided you needed to stay under longer for whatever reason. What were you doing?”

“Uh,” I stilled for a moment as I finally took in my surrounding on the deck. Sure enough, with the exception of the the scattered tea cups, we were in fact alone on the deck. The sun was warm against my skin now that I took the time to realize it, the object high in the sky. Holy shit, was it lunch time already?! “How long were we doing this?!” I felt him shrug against me, his chin thunking against my shoulder. “Get off marimo! I gotta make lunch!”

“Oi!” His grip tightened against my squirming form. “Hold still, can't I just take a moment here? No one will die if you are late getting lunch cook.”

“Don't go all sentimental on me moss for brains!” My hands grabbed a hold of his forearms in an attempt to pull him off. I really don't know why I even tried as he just gripped my shoulders tighter, voice husky as he nuzzled into my hair. I stopped at this, trying to turn my head to face him, getting nothing more than a blurry mass of green for my efforts.

“Thanks Sanji.” He said quietly and I relaxed into him, defeated for the moment. Mumbling his name under my breath, he pulled me back tighter against his chest, nuzzling deeper into my neck. I could feel a shift in his energy, it back to what it had been before all this started, but it seemed stronger now as well. I will most likely never admit it out loud, but just being wrapped in his embrace with his familiar sense of person was rather comforting. We had accomplished our goal and I had my swordsman back. A fleeting kiss came just under my ear before he loosened his grip. “Go make lunch stupid cook.”

I stood quickly, jumping away from him before he changed his mind and fished out a cigarette, setting it against my lips as he stood, picking up his sword and finally returning it to her home in his haramaki. He seemed pleased with this, but frowned as he looked at me. He seemed about to speak, to ask where the Sandai Kitetsu was, when he shut his mouth, rubbing at the back of his neck. I lit up, inhaling deeply before I spoke with my exhale. “The ladies' room.” Then I turned and walked up the stairs towards the galley, shoes clicking quietly against the Adam's wood as I began to frantically put together a menu. Pausing at the top though, I turned just as Zoro started off. “Hey, marimo...”

“Yeah?” He turned to look up at me, his typical scowl back in place.

“Go in there and I will kick your ass.”

I got an eye roll in return. “Che...whatever ero-cook.” Then he walked away, a wave of a hand over his shoulder as he probably headed off to get lost somewhere. He was the only person I knew who could get lost on a ship. Not like the Sunny was even that big compared to some others either. With a chuckle, I took a drag off my smoke and made my way into the kitchen.

I think oni-giri will make a nice side dish today.


	16. Chapter 16

He's still not whole. Just by looking at him, you can tell. There is something off about a man who's most powerful attack style involves three swords, yet only has two. More often than not I catch him hand wrapped around Yubashiri's hilt, thumb idly rubbing the bindings. It's like he's lost. A child who's puppy has run away.

Don't get me wrong, Zoro is Zoro again. The way he sits and laughs with Luffy or the way he and Chopper nap on the deck. He is most certainly back to being his lazy moss ball self. We did what was needed to be done and he is rid of Andhera. But, my swordsman hides it well. The sorrow and lost feelings of not being whole, but I see it. I see it in the way he stands at the rail at dusk, just mindlessly staring out to sea. I see it in the way his eyes blur slightly when he looks at me, dropping the hardened glare he shows everyone else.

I hear it in the way his feet scuff slightly against the flooring as he walks around. I hear it in the distracted sighs when he meditates. I hear it in the way he talks when we are alone.

And I feel it. I feel it in the way he clings to me at night, head buried in my shoulders, arms tightly wrapped around my waist. This isn't him; not truly.

Inhaling the last drag of my smoke, I flicked it over the rail, stuffing my hands in my pockets as I walked over to him. Hands gripped the rail in a near white knuckle grip, eyes staring out to the sea, not really seeing it though. Exhaling, I leaned my back against it so I could see his face as I spoke. “I'm tired. Been a long day having to cook for Luffy like that. Gonna go take a bath, then bed. You wanna come with me?”

Something sparked across those eyes, but it was gone as fast as it appeared and after what looked like took some effort, he turned to gaze to me. “Does Nami know when we will find land again?”

“No.” I frowned as I answered. Everyone was upset about Zoro not having all of his swords, not being at his full potential, but only I really knew how deep it hurt  _ him. _

He gave a grunt and a nod, turning back to the sea, hand straying from the rail to his weapons. “Marimo,” I started. It's not that I  _ wanted _ him in the bath with me, that's kinda like my private time, yet I needed him to do  _ something _ besides sulk like the mossy lump he has become. He hummed slightly to let me know he was listening, but didn't move otherwise. I brought a hand up, fingers lightly touching his arm. Not something I would normally do in the open of the deck, but it was late and most of the crew had gone to bed. He felt warm under the pads of my fingers, his skin jumping against my touch. “Come with me.”

He turned, raising an eyebrow at me. “You...want me to take a bath with you?” Without warning, his hand smacked against my forehead and his mouth worked for a moment while in thought. “You don't feel like you  have a fever. You okay shit cook?”

“I'm fine!” I snapped, smacking his hand away from my forehead. He gave a short low chuckle and turned to fully face me. I tensed as he leaned forwards in a hug, wrapping his arms around my waist and dropping his head onto my shoulder. I gave the back of his head a small glare.

With a deep breath, he sighed. “Yeah, I will go with you. Maybe I can work some of this tension out in the warm water.”

Relaxing a bit, I brought my arms up, hands wrapping in the back of his white shirt. I could feel the muscles under the fabric, hard and defined against the heels of my palms and knuckles. “We will get you a new one.” I barely breathed the words, turning my head slightly towards his ear. “A better one.”

“I just feel...lost.” The marimo's voice sounded muffled against my shoulder, his breath warm as it dampened the fabric of my shirt. With how much of a shitty jerk he can be, it hurts to see Zoro like this. I can feel my heart contract in pain from hearing the broken sound in his voice. This is so unlike him and we need to find him a new weapon quickly. Stepping back away from me, he turned slightly, jerking his head towards the bathhouse. “Come on love cook. Before I change my mind and decide I don't want to be anywhere near your prissy ass.”

“What is  _ that _ supposed to mean you shitty swordsman?!” I snapped back, following him up the stairs. Snagging his collar, I turned him in the right direction and we made our way to the bathhouse, bickering the entire time. “Can't even call you a third rate swordsman anymore.”

“That's low.” Zoro growled, grabbing me by the shirt and slamming my shoulders into the door of the bathroom. Pain shot from my shoulder blades and I gasped, trying to get the air he had forced out of my lungs back. That brought on a whole new pain as the deep inhale pressed against my ribs and I stopped, my breath catching in my throat again. The tears that welled at the corners of my eyes were unwelcome and uncontrollable as the sharp pain just took over for a moment. Zoro's harsh scowl smoothed over into a look of concern and he let go of my shirt. “Shit, you okay? I'm sorry.”

I nodded weakly, my hand coming lightly to my ribs. The swordsman reached behind me and pulled me forwards against his chest with one arm as he opened the door with the other. The loud bolt of pain was gone now, replaced with a constant throb as we stepped into the small forward room. He let go, the door clicking shut behind him. “I will get the water going.” And he disappeared without giving me a chance to respond, closing the other door behind him as he did so.

Carefully I undid my shirt, shrugging it easily from my shoulders, folding it and setting it on the shelves that held the towels. Turning to the mirror, it was hard to recognize myself. My whole chest was covered in bruises, partly wrapped in Chopper's white bandages, with a healing pink bite mark on my neck. So far the only bruises to fully vanish were the first ones, the ones where Zoro pinned me down in the crows nest. Picking at the end of the bandages, I began to pull them off, quickly getting frustrated at the fact that they stuck to each other and I couldn't move right without hurting myself even more.

Stomping one foot on the floor, I pulled at my hair, growling to myself. This was so stupid! After everything that had happened, the one thing I couldn't do was take off these shitty scrapes of fabric! “Easy cook, let me.” Zoro's voice startled me as his hands came around from behind me. When the hell did he even open the door? Shitty bastard could be stealthy when barefoot.

With the lightest of touches, Zoro took the fabric from my hands and picked up where I left off, carefully and easily unwinding the massive amounts of bandages from my chest. That's the one bad thing about Chopper, the little guy can go overboard with the stuff sometimes. I watched him in the mirror, his face a calm blank expression as his eyes were downward cast, watching what his hands were doing. The last bit of the material came away and fell to the floor as he frowned at the large bruise on my side. The mark from his fist was visible and he traced it lightly before running his fingers up my chest to the bite mark. Leaning back against him, I just gave in to the feel of him.

I had forgotten what Roronoa Zoro truly could be like. His demeanor had been off for such a long time and then this past week it escalated so quickly that my mind was still spinning from it. This, though, this was him. Truly him. Fingers danced across the marred flesh of my neck before he dropped his head, laying several light kisses across the small patch of skin. “I can't believe what she had me doing to you.” He murmured against my skin, his arms coming to wrap low on my hips, pulling me back tighter against him. “I'm so sorry Sanji.”

“Don't.” I barely breathed the word as he kissed me again, moving from the healing wound up my neck slowly. My eyes slid closed as I tilted my head slightly, giving him more access as he gently bit at the juncture of my neck and jaw. “It wasn't you. I could tell when it wasn't you.”

The fingers of his left hand slipped under the hem of my slacks and I could feel them brush against the beginnings of the trail of hair there. It sent a tingling sensation through my whole body as I leaned deeper against him with a slight moan, biting at my lip as to not let it escape. He heard me though and chuckled at me as he withdrew from me and grabbed a couple towels off the shelving. “Let's go, ero-cook. We can continue in the bath if we must.”

“You make this sound like I started it!” Quickly toeing off my shoes, I kicked him in the ass as he opened the door, closing it behind myself as he took off his shirt and threw it aside near his swords. The haramaki went next and I caught myself staring as the muscles of his back and arms rippled under that bronzed skin as the obnoxious belly warmer went up and over his head. With a grin, he undid his pants, dropping them to the floor with a smirk.

“What's wrong cook, can't get undressed?” My jaw snapped shut. I wasn't even sure when I had opened my mouth. The smirk still in place, he walked over to me, hands once again coming to my hips. He raised an eyebrow at me as something sparked in those gray green eyes. My brain instantly fired with  _ I'm in trouble _ but my body wouldn't move to fight him off. “Let me help cook.”

Fingers hooked under my pants again as they slid from my hips to the button and zipper. He gave me one more lop-sided grin before pulling me against him and sliding down to his knees. I could feel my semi-hard erection slid over his body through my pants, but the only thing my brain could muster was:  _ when in hell did I get hard? _

He nuzzled into me, his nose dragging the fabric of my pants tight against me and  _ oh god if it didn't feel fucking great! _ A small whimper escaped as Zoro's eyes flicked up to me. My hands threaded through his hair as his hands slid back around my hips to grab at my ass, mouth opening just enough to tease with what he planned on doing. “Sanji,” he said seriously and I froze. Now was  _ not _ the time to get all sentimental on me. Now was the time to carry on with what that look in his eyes was telling me and what I was suddenly pleading silently in my head for. I just wanted to feel the warmth of his mouth around me. To have that tongue pressed against my hardened flesh. I was growing harder just by thinking about it. My cock throbbing at the notion of him taking me into his mouth.

Pulling away, Zoro leaned back enough to look up at me and as my head screamed 'no' I tried to remain calm and not forcefully pull his face back to my crotch. The slightest hint of a sincere smile graced his lips for just a moment. “I love you.”

He dove back upon me before I had a chance to respond and as he mouthed at me through my pants, drenching the fabric instantly with the wet and warm heat of his mouth, I managed to get out a very garbled and broken 'I love you' in return. My hands tightened in his hair and he gave a small groan as one hand came around to unbutton my pants. Slowly he lowered the zipper, I swear he did it tooth by fucking tooth, it was painfully forever and I could feel my heart beat throbbing in my cock. I was panting by the time I was finally free, his mouth over my heated flesh before my pants were around my ankles.

The swordsman's mouth was hot and wet and slid down my length with such ease, I let my eyes roll back in my head for a moment, catching my balance before I fell back too far. Both hands were gripping my ass, pulling me forwards against him as his nose brushed into blond curls and Zoro swallowed.

A loud groan escaped me, doing nothing more than driving Zoro forwards, swallowing against my head a second time before pulling back, dragging his teeth lightly, his tongue pressed firm against the pulsing vein underneath. The moss head's eyes slid shut, clearly enjoying himself and focusing on what he was doing as he pulled back, till just my head was in his mouth. I could feel his tongue swirl around the edge and dip into my slit. I was lost, everything was wet and warm and I couldn't tell if it was all his spit or if my leaking cock had added to it. I can only assume I had added to the mixture as he hummed to himself and I felt the tell tale tightening in my stomach and balls.

My grip tightened a bit more as I focused on not bucking into his mouth as he slid down my length, his own grip tightening on my ass. There has to be some law we are breaking here. No one can be that talented with their tongue. Then again, Zoro is the only one I know that fights the way he does. He released me fully, the tip of his tongue once again dragging up the underside, before giving one solid suck to the head and swallowing me whole again.

My fucking  _ god! _ Fingers tightening in his hair even more, it had to be starting to become painful, but he gave no notion of it as one hand let go of my ass and slid around to my inner thigh before dancing up the sensitive flesh. My whole body jerked forwards at that, hips bucking as I pulled him closer to me. I couldn't have stopped myself if I had tried. I came hard, hips jerking as I leaned forwards against him. Eyes still closed, the swordsman sucked at my head, hand working slowly up and down my length till I was done and he pulled away, glaring up at me. Licking at the corner of his mouth, Zoro wiped the back of a hand across his swollen lips. With a swallow, I mumbled a 'sorry', releasing my hold on his hair and sliding my hands down to his shoulders. His head tilted into my touch as I paused to run my fingers through his earrings, eyes closing for a moment.

My knees felt weak as I stood there panting, looking down at him as he nuzzled into my hand like a damn cat. He really is fucking gorgeous. In the confines of my own head, I will admit this freely. The way he tilts his head slightly into my touch, eyes drifting closed. He trusts me and I think beyond everything else, that is the most amazing part. Who else gets to see this? The emotion this man really has? Everyone gets glimpses now and again, but I get it all the time and I get it without hesitation. Raw and unguarded emotion that he kept locked away most of the time.

Hand still on my thigh, Zoro stood up, pressing his hips against mine, the heat of his body emanating off him as he leaned to bite at my shoulder, his hard-on pressing against my spent member. I gave a small hiss at the overpowering sensation against my flesh, leaning against him and tried to focus on what he was doing at my shoulder. This mark I welcomed as he bit harshly, teeth grazing my skin, only to be released and replaced by his tongue as he tried to sooth the harsh behavior with calming laps of the talented muscle. “It's fucking cold standing here,” he murmured against my skin and the words sent shivers down my spine. The fingers of the hand on my thigh stroked the skin gently, dancing up to just barely brush my balls. “Come in the water with me.”

I followed wordlessly as he stepped back and turned, stumbling once on shaky legs before stepping down into the water. Normally I wouldn't have run water this fucking hot, I could feel it burning my skin as I stepped in. But right now, I didn't care as Zoro sat and pulled me to him, grabbing my hips and pulling me down to his level in his lap. The water did wonders as the marimo reached between us, wrapping his hand around me, dragging me once again to hardness. It took effort, as he pumped at my awakening flesh, to lean forwards on my knees, bringing me closer to him, our chests now touching as I leaned in for a kiss.

His thumb swirled across my head, dipping into the slit just before I reached him and I paused, with a gasp, eyes going wide. He gave a throaty chuckle before closing the small distance I was incapable of doing myself right now, sealing his mouth over mine. His tongue invaded my mouth instantly, tasting of sake, steel and the lingering taste of my own cum.

Letting go of me, Zoro adjusted his hand around both of us, groaning into my mouth as his neglected length finally got some attention. His taste was slightly bitter, but I ignored it, as I eagerly fought against his tongue, sucking at his lower lip and rolling my hips down against his as the marimo jerked his upwards.

I could feel the pulsing from both us as he moved his hand, almost lazily, deliberately long and slow strokes, taking the time to focus on the battle we fought in our mouths. I pulled back, dragging my teeth across his bottom lip, pulling it away from his mouth before I let it slip between my teeth. As soon as I did, Zoro closed the distance, his free hand coming out of the water and pressing against the back of my head.

The hot water running in drops and small streams down my back set fire through my veins. I ground down on him, pressing our bodies as close as I could, nipping and biting across his cheek and up his jaw line. My tongue curled around his earrings, making them tink in response as I spoke lowly into his ear. The three words came out in more of a breathy whisper than I had been trying for. “I want you.”

“Take me.” Zoro's gruff voice spoke back in my ear, his hand sliding from my hair and around the side of my neck. He stilled the hand working our cocks, leaning away from me just enough to look me in the eyes. The glazed look cleared and hardened to show the swordsman's resolve in the simple phrase he had just uttered against my neck.

“You...” I tripped over my own words. The thrill and arousal that ran through my body at that was beyond words. This was something we had never done before. For Zoro to open up this much and trust me with his literal being to not hurt him spoke volumes and I just couldn't form words.

The hand on my neck moved and I was only slightly aware of the caress across my cheek as I watched the hardened look soften in his gray green eyes. “You came for me. You risked everything to save me from her. I trust you with my life Sanji.”

With words having failed me, I dove at him with renewed vigor, attacking his mouth in a fierce and heated kiss. I needed this to express the words I couldn't speak right now. The swell and array of emotions that hit me all at once was overpowering as I pressed my lips against his harshly. Zoro pressed back, either of us furthering the kiss beyond that, but the message must have gotten through as he pulled away with a small smile and pushed me away from him.

Switching our positions, Zoro used the water to do so effortlessly and smoothly, settling down with his knees on either side of where I was now sitting. Leaning forwards, he sucked lightly at the mark he made on my shoulder, mumbling into my skin as my hands tentatively came to his hips. “The water will help. We can walk each other through it.”

With a swallow, I nodded. I knew what to do, but never had been on this side of it and never had this type of control over Zoro. His level of pleasure was solely based on how I gave it to him, same as he had done to me countless times. Part of me isn't sure I can stand up to it. The rest of me is alive with this lust induced power trip and I can't wait to sink my teeth into this experience.

My hand didn't move as I stared blankly over his shoulder for a moment, the feel of his tongue and teeth bruising the skin on my shoulder the focal point of all my feeling. He lapped one more time before he paused. “Hey cook,” The marimo's voice was low and husky as he spoke. “You gonna do this or what?”

My body jerked into action as a hand snaked downwards, fingers coming to rest lightly against his entrance. I felt his body tense and jerk slightly, the water splashing against us, with Zoro sucking in a deep breath through his teeth and letting it out through his nose, relaxing his body. I pressed forwards, my finger slipping past the muscles.

His breath remained slow and steady as I moved my finger, my other hand gripping his hip. Zoro remained calm, his forehead pressed against my shoulder now, one arm thrown behind me gripping at the edge of the bath, the other pressed against my leg. Watching him from the corner of my eye as best a could, I pulled back, adding a second finger to the first as I pushed forwards again. The swordsman gave a small grunt and I paused, words finally coming back to me. “Usually you...”

He cut me off, snapping at me. “I know.” Stopping, Zoro swallowed once, nodding slightly. “I know,” he said again, quieter and calmer. “Just...I'm fine. It's just...different.”

I knew what he meant, the pressure and slight pain, and I gave a distracted nod as I pushed in again, curling my fingers. I knew from my own experiences roughly what I was looking for but actually finding it a few attempts later wasn't expected. My fingers brushed across the bundle of nerves, making me jump when Zoro cried out, arcing back from me and grinding his hips downward. I sunk a little deeper in the water with a groan as your lengths rubbed against one another in the warm water. With a pant, the moss head sat back up again, shifting his body to push back against my fingers. “Do that again.”

With a raised eyebrow, I complied wordlessly, adding the third finger and thrusting in, rubbing along the spot as much as I could. A moan escaped him, the sound vibrating against my shoulder and it was the most amazing and delicious sound I had heard him make up to this point. I moved my other hand, determined to show him how good this could feel and wrapped it around his cock tightly. The swordsman's body tensed and tightened as I started a rhythm of stroking him at the same time I moved my fingers. He was quickly coming undone and I was the one causing him to lose himself. “S-stop...” His words came out broken between pants. “I'm gonna...”

“This is what you do to me.” I growled, withdrawing my fingers and letting go of him. His breath came in ragged gulps as he looked at me bewildered for a moment. The gears seemed to be turning in his moss covered brain and I leaned forwards to kiss him, pecking his lips between words. “You ready?”

With a nod, he raised an eyebrow. “Are you?”

I snorted. Of course I was. Or so I hoped I was. The water lapped at my chest as he moved again, positioning himself over me. My own hand came to grasp at my length and I hissed slightly, sucking my breath in through my teeth at the touch of my own hand. Biting my lip as I pressed the head against his entrance, I reached up, craning my neck to kiss him. I mumbled 'relax' against his lips urging his hips down with my free hand as I slowly raised mine to meet him.

Every time the man had ever growled  _ “You're so fucking tight!” _ flooded my mind at once as I pushed past that first ring of heat into my swordsman. I thought it had been tight with just my fingers, but the heat I felt as Zoro sucked in a breath was beyond anything I had imagined. I let Zoro continue on his own, just taking in the sensations of being the one to fill, rather than be filled. I could feel Zoro relax his body around me, but he was still so tight, I was teetering on the edge of not being able to think at all.

Fully seated, he gave a grunt that was mixed with discomfort rather than pain and he kissed me, long and slow, our tongues meeting but not waging war. His eyes were shut tightly, cheeks flushed an amazing shade of red on his tanned skin. A wet hand came to wipe at his face, leaving drops of water scattered across it as he opened his eyes to look at me. Our eyes locked as I took a breath. “On you.”

With a nod, he shifted both hands to grip the edge of the tub and leaned up on his knees, pulling away from me till just the head of my cock was the only part left inside him. As my other hand came to his hip, I could feel him shaking slightly, barely noticeable unless you knew what to look for. This side of him even I rarely got to see, but I had a feeling I would be seeing it more often. With a swallow, Zoro ground his hips back down.

It was I that cried out, unable to control my own voice as the feeling of him coming down on me so quickly rocketed through my body, tightening my grip on his hips. The swordsman rocked slowly at first, my own hips snapping to meet his as we found some sort on rhythm. “This is what you do to  _ me. _ ” He growled in my ear, biting at it as he lifted himself again before slamming himself back down on me, fully sheathing my throbbing cock inside his heat.

My head fell back against the back of the tub with an open moan. I didn't care anymore if I was vocal, this was too good to try to keep in. Zoro's body was fluid, using his grip on the tub as leverage to rock his hips against mine in a continual motion. We began to move faster. As the marimo became more relaxed and pain and pressure gave in to pleasure, small moans and whimpers came from him. Forehead still resting on my shoulder, the nails on my fingers digging into his hips, we moved, the water splashing and sloshing around us.

“Zoro,” the word came out in a moan as I managed to move my hand to his length and there was a sharp inhale and a pause as I wrapped my hand around his length. Even in the warm water, I could feel the heat of his flesh against my palm as I began to stroke him in time to his rolling and pitching hips. Taking advantage of his stop in movements, no doubt from stimulus overload, I shifted slightly, bucking my hips up, watching the reaction I got from half-lidded eyes.

The marimo's head snapped up, locking eyes with mine as they went wide with the sharp intake of breath. Bingo. I aimed again for the the pleasure center I had found earlier, enjoying the glazed look of pure bliss that swept across Zoro's features. Mouth hanging open as unchecked moans escaped, eyes closing only to snap open as I thrust upwards again, the whole time my hand tightly gripped around his throbbing cock. I understood why this was his preferred position. The performance my moss head was giving me was one I soon will not forget and that,combined with everything else was bringing me close to completion again.

“S—San...” It was all he got out before my name became lost in a long low groan, his eyes rolling back in his head as he dropped down upon me one more time, clamping down on my cock as he came against my hand. His back arched beautifully as his head tipped back, exposing his neck and chest deliciously.

Everything burned white as all the muscles in my body tensed at once, my hips jerking of their own accord into that tight heat as I tipped over the edge. My body shook from the intense waves of pleasure that slammed into my body, leaving me momentarily blinded and light headed. My grip on Zoro's length wavered, my hand covered in a sticky wadded mess of cum.

I felt, more than saw him come back, his whole body dropping forwards against mine as his hands slipped off the edge of the tub to the water with a splash, his head, once again resting on my shoulder as he panted into the crook of my collar bone. My own hands fell away, coming to rest on the bottom of the tub as we lay still, catching our breaths. When he was ready, Zoro picked himself up, moving to sit next to me and I slid down the side of the tub to lay against his shoulder. I heard him swallow, breath beginning to return and I found myself doing the same. “You...you relaxed any?” I asked, closing my eyes and just listening to him next to me.

My body was craving a cigarette, but I wanted to fight it as long as I could. Laying here with the marimo was more important than my nicotine craving. The water sounded again as Zoro moved slightly, before settling back against me and we just leaned on each other for another quiet moment. “Yeah,” he breathed out with a slight nod. “Think we should  _ actually _ take a bath now?”

Closing my eyes I shook my head. I was all wet, there was no way I was going to a cigarette without ruining it. Opening them again, I grabbed for one of the surprisingly still dry wash clothes and dunked it in the water before dropping it on Zoro's head. Eyes squinted shut as the water trailed down his face, he cracked one eye as I grinned at him. “I'm content to just lay here for a bit if you are marimo.”

He smiled back with a slight nod, eyes lighting up at the genuine happiness of spending some quiet and peaceful alone time together on the ship. “Yeah, love cook, I would like that.”

  
Kore de owaridesu.


End file.
